Beauty & the Beast
by SaxonnyRETURNS
Summary: What no one knew was that the King of the Goblins had fallen in love with the girl. In a tale as old as time, beautiful Sarah finds that there is more to the beastly King than she bargains for.
1. Prologue

**_Once Upon a Time,_** in a faraway land, a young King lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired the young regent was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the kingdom, requesting mercy for shelter from the bitter cold. Everyone in the city turned her away, until finally she knocked on the door of the Castle, offering a rose in return for the King's generosity.

Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the king sneered at the gift, and turned the old woman away. She warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. When he dismissed her again, the woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful sorceress. The king tried to apologize but it was too late; she had seen there was no love in his heart.

As punishment, she transformed him into a nightmare legend, a thief of young children: the King of a Goblin Realm. She cast a powerful spell over his castle, and all who lived there, turning them into Goblins and other creatures. He was condemned to be the servant of every person in the world who ever called on him, and to be the ruler of the disdained land known as the Labyrinth.

Ashamed of his kingdom and its dullard inhabitants, he hid himself in the Underground, with his magic crystals and duties as the Goblin King as his only windows to the above world. The rose she had given him was an enchanted rose, which would bloom for five hundred Aboveground years. If he could learn to love another, and earn their love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain the keeper of the Labyrinth for all time.

As the years passed, his cruel bitterness grew more and more, until one day, in his crystal he had spied a young girl playing alongside a bright pond on a spring day. She was the trapped princess, villain, and knight in shining armor all in one. So much life echoed in her eyes that he felt his heart go out to her. She could re-order time, and turn worlds upside down like he did, but with the power of her mind. For her, fairy tales and maidens trapped in towers and goblins were real; if anyone could understand his plight, it was she.

And so he insinuated his story into her life so subtly that it was as if he were merely another fairy tale in the great archives of fantasy and myth, alongside Cinderella and Snow White. She had done as was expected; she called him and he came; only she had seen him as her enemy and not Prince Charming. He had tried to play by the rules she had imagined, and he tried breaking them, all to win her heart. But she was too young, and could not see outside the realms of Good and Evil. She had beaten him at his own game, and with the victory came the loss of all his hope. For who could ever learn to love the Goblin King?


	2. An Afterthought

Three heads bent close to the ground in a dark corner of the castle, conspiring together.

Three voices, one old and loyal, one deep and simple, and one that raced along at the pace of a thousand ADD diagnosed youths high on PCP, were lowered in serious discussion.

Trying to be quiet. Key word being: _trying_.

"Isaywemarchrightinthereandtellhim WHAT FORE-" a thin voice declared, growing louder until a large paw, covered in flaming orange fur, clapped over the yapping muzzle. The silence was instantaneous.

"Noise bad."

"I, for one, don't want to visit the Bog of Eternal Stench because you two couldn't keep your voices down." When the statement was met with agreeing silence, the dwarf sighed in resignation. "There's not other way to do this. She's not gonna come here, and time's running out."

"Mmmm mmmm mph mph?" The giant paw lifted from his muzzle and the little fox repeated himself. "What if we're wrong? What if she's not the one?"

The trio stood in front of an open window, gazes locked on the ever changing, volatile Labyrinth. The 'what if' hung in the silence, unanswered, troubling each of them. Two snowy white eyebrows set into a deeply wrinkled brow drifted together in determination.

"We can't be wrong," he said simply.

"We…not fair…to Toby," the giant orange beast mourned. Ludo hated all forms of deceit and treachery.

"We need Toby," Hoggle explained patiently, eyes darting from side to side for any glimpse of a Goblin. Or worse-their master.

"If this is how it must be done," Sir Didymus began, and then broke off, the worry apparent in his sly gaze.

"This is how we must do it." The dwarf turned his head, the view out of the window lending no consolation to his anxiety. Underneath the red sunless sky, beyond the safety of the Goblin City lay the Labyrinth. It lay like a sleeping tiger, seemingly harmless. The inhabitants of the Underground knew better, though. And they would all be trapped here unless something could break the spell. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"She won't understand," Sir Didymus's face was sad, but acquiescent.

Hoggle nodded. It wasn't fair that he had to trick the person that meant the most to him, the best friend he ever had…but that was how life went. It wasn't always fair. He slowly reached into the deep pockets of his ancient trousers, and withdrew ten paperclips, a yard long piece of string, the keys to a '68 Pinto…

"Oh _bugger_, it's in here somewhere!" His arm sank into the pocket up to the elbow, fishing.

A piece of tinfoil, the cork to an antiquated bottle of onion wine and one rubber ducky later, the arm sank deeper, up to the shoulder.

"A-ha!" he exclaimed, and then clapped his remaining hand over his mouth as the echo rang through the dingy, dusty stone halls. Didymus and Ludo were glaring.

"I found it," Hoggle presented the book sheepishly, and they huddled around it. So small, so innocent. The gilded title scrawled simply across the leather cover:

_The Labyrinth._


	3. One

The park was fraught with busy people hustling to and from business meetings, school, dates, work, buses, lunches, brunches and jogging to work off that late night Bloody Mary. Which is why it was the best place in the world for Sarah Williams to go people watching.

The clock tower stood as a sentry over the tops of the trees, an icon to a simpler, happier time. The sun shining down and warming up the hand painted wooden bench she sat on, Sarah leaned back and munched on her chicken and walnut salad sandwich, enjoying being the study of stillness amidst the sea of people in motion.

"So how is your wife, Larry?"

"Don't ask; her hand has a welt in it the size of my Discover card," a suit-clad business man shook his head at his friend, and started to rattle into a venting speech about women before he was out of earshot. Snippets of everyone's conversation filtered in and out of her hearing range.

"Where you off to?"

"The bookshop."

"But I don't WANNA go, mommy!"

"You're getting your teeth cleaned and that's that."

"Pretzels! Popcorn! Hot Dogs!"

"…so peculiar…"

Sarah's favorite part about her afternoons was that even though people surrounded her, she was usually alone in the fact that she, unlike the masses, had nothing to do. Well…there were small perks to being a freelance artist.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it, he's such a Prince Charming-"

"He has the biggest-"

A walnut stuck halfway down her throat and Sarah coughed violently, missing the second half of the interesting conversation between two young blondes.

"Ah, what a great town," she managed when her windpipe loosened, her eyes watering. When she decided the crowds were tapering off, and the dialogues she heard were as good as she was going to get, she wandered off to sit in the shade beneath a sprawling oak tree and took out her sketchpad. The conversations, the tones, the whining and the happiness and the complaining all buzzed in her head, and her piece of charcoal began to move across the white sheets. Everything she heard inspired her, and the words and personalities were slowly fashioned into the little elves and hobgoblins and fairy illustrations that made her so popular with a variety of children's book authors.

The wife-complainer was turned into a stooping wizened old raisin of a man with a long white flowing beard and a lip that stuck out six inches from his face.

The candy vendor was turned into a rotund, jolly looking elf with numerous chins and a magic pack filled to the brim with sweet delights.

The last drawing started out as a sassy looking fairy combined with a talk show sex therapist. The two spiky-haired blonde waifs swinging their hips through the park inspired it, but as she looked closer, she felt her blood charge with electricity. The mismatched charcoal eyes that stared up at her sardonically were most definitely_ not_ the laughing eyes of the fairy she had intended to draw.

Sarah slammed the sketchpad shut and wrapped her arms around her knees, suddenly wishing she had someone she could hug very tightly, and tell her everything would be all right.

The obnoxiously loud ringer of her cell phone was a very welcome distraction. She dug it out of her hobo bag and flipped it open, trying not to stare at the closed notebook.

"This is Sarah."

"You," her father's voice drawled, "were supposed to be home half an hour ago."

Dread filled her, replacing the uneasiness caused by a pair of grinning eyes. "But today's Thursday?" It was rhetorical. The second she heard his voice she knew she had flubbed again.

"Today is _Friday_. Today is the day you agreed to watch Toby after school while I went to my meeting. Let me guess: you forgot."

"I'm sorry, I was sketching," she apologized, gathering her assorted junk and stuffing it into her oversized bag, "I'll be right there."

"I have to leave right _now_, Sarah."

She was at a dead run through the park. "So hog-tie Toby in his room so he doesn't get into any mischief and I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Very funny, young lady. I've already asked Edith to watch Toby until you get here."

Sarah knew by now that her dad hated playing the role of the wicked dictator, but there were certain times, this one included, where a little stern discipline was called for. She didn't begrudge him that anymore…not after Karen left him, unable to cope with the pressure of a teenage stepdaughter and a crying toddler. 

"The meeting shouldn't run that late, I'll even bring home some pizza."

"Great," Sarah panted, leaping over a low hedge that separated the main street from the bike path in the park.

"See you tonight then. And Sarah?" He paused before continuing, suddenly sounding very old. "Thanks…I know it's not fair that you still have to be strapped down with your brother…you should be able to go out and have fun, like other girls your age…" he cleared his throat, "I just wanted to say I appreciate all your help. I couldn't do it without you."

Sarah slowed at a busy corner, waiting for a lull in traffic. Even though she was his daughter…maybe especially because she was his daughter…she heard the sadness in his voice. It was catching; she felt her throat swell up and her vision swam for a second. She kept it light.

"No sweat. Anything for the kiddo. Drive safely."

The click of the phone cut off the slowly building depression her dad's apology caused. Sometimes life dealt a winning hand, and sometimes it stuck you with the Queen of Spades in the great cosmic game of Hearts. Her dad happened to get it twice.

Even though she knew better, she couldn't help but think it really WASN'T fair that nice guys sometimes finished last, and it wasn't fair that her father had not one but two women desert him, two women who abandoned their children just because they realized that real life was a lot tougher than the fairy tale. For the last few years, after Karen had decided enough was enough, instead of returning to college Sarah had remained at home taking care of her very precarious and very energetic half-brother. Although her dad saw it as a cramp in her style, it was actually a relief to take a break from the overwhelming stress the university had brought on; whoever thought that learning about Astrophysics for a degree in Art History was a sadist. It was just lucky she had made enough connections in the art world before returning home; her submissions to her agent were helping make ends meet.

Jogging along tree-lined streets brought back memories from those fabled teenage years, so far behind her now that it was almost scary. That time, though, she had been struggling with a rain-soaked dog and the heavy train of one of her costumes, instead of her multi-purpose bag and a giant sketchpad that was rubbing the inside of her arm raw. By the time she reached the modest two-story house, she was out of breath, red-faced and sweating like a snowman faced with an army of hairdryers. Before she could collapse and die a blur of smiles and grass-stained denim streaked across the lawn and jumped into her arms.

"_Sarahsarahsarah!"_ Toby cried, almost knocking his older sister off her feet.

She bit back a well-deserved 'oomph!' and swung her little brother around like an airplane, unable to stop a smile as he crowed with delight. Their neighbor, Edith, trotted up a few moments later, out of breath herself.

"Oh good! You're home then. He's been waiting to watch his television shows…I don't have cable you know."

"What do you say Toby?" Sarah reminded as she set him down, trying not to pass out from a combination of short breath and dizziness.

"Thank you Edith," he stated dutifully before bolting inside. The thud of his school backpack being thrown against the wall could be heard, followed quickly by the sounds of the grunts and groans of Kung Fu fighting.

"Thank you," Sarah repeated. Edith nodded, relaxing noticeably now that Toby had been passed on to someone decades younger.

"If you need anything, dearie, I'll be next door." She retreated post haste. 

The raucous sounds of the kids' show and the banging of drawers in the kitchen greeted Sarah as she closed the front door, slinging her bag onto the coat rack. It was followed by the crash of glass and a very small "oops."

"It's going to be a long night," she murmured.


	4. Two

It **was** a long night. The two broken teacups were not _entirely_ Toby's fault; they were blocking the direct access to his favorite sip cup with the curly-q straw, and the end result that Sarah swept up into the garbage bin was the normal health hazard that came with being a precocious child who was a tactile learner.

The sugar high that stemmed from the three Hostess Cupcakes that he stealthily swiped and gobbled down, however, WAS his fault. Sarah thought she had been so clever when she hid them above the washing machine behind the detergent, but she had underestimated the primitive drive an icing filled cake awoke in a kid. Toby skipped over hyperactive, going straight to plaid, and was still running in the red by the time her dad got home, bearing a pizza, a briefcase full of papers, and a tired glint in his eyes when he saw his son jumping on the couch cushions like a trampoline.

The look he gave Sarah was not something she could forget easily. It was disappointment combined with utter hopelessness. Depression hung over him like a shroud. She could see the situation from his perspective, she really could. Nearing fifty and still having a child under the age of ten to rear was not easy. However, his energy was starting to fray the edges of the life she was trying to build; Sarah made a mental note to sit down for an adult-to-adult conversation with her dad.

Toby's normal bedtime was eight o'clock sharp; bathed, teeth brushed, bladder emptied and tucked in…or else. Due to the processed sugar content of the aforementioned mass produced pastries, he was still rebounding off the walls at 8:15. Her dad, who secluded himself in his office hunched over piles of legal jargon, asked her to make sure Toby calmed down.

One step short of tying him down in a straight jacket and gagging him with a sock, she made Toby promise to at least stay in bed and try to wind down; he could read or color or play with his stuffed toys quietly, but no foot was to leave the bed. Sarah made a point to check on him every fifteen minutes. For a while Toby seemed fairly relaxed; he was huddled under his comforter, his head making a miniature teepee as he read with his flashlight.

It was easy to lose herself in her renderings; this afternoon had not been the first time. So she wasn't surprised to look up and see that it was 10:30, and she had forgotten to check on Toby in over an hour. Passing by the door to the office, she saw her dad snoozing away at his desk. That, also, wasn't surprising, but the light that streamed through the bottom of Toby's bedroom door _was_. 

She opened the door to chaos. He had completely torn apart his room. The stuffed animals she had given him sat in a semi-circle at the foot of the bed; a down-filled captive audience. Toby was charging around in his red and white striped long johns with a plastic knight's helmet on his head and a toy sword pointed ferociously at the poster of a smiling dragon.

"I _thought_ I said you were supposed to stay in bed." The stern words coming out of her mouth made her wince; she was beginning to sound like her stepmother. A sudden wave of anger washed over her at the thought.

"Awwww, come on, Sarah! I'm not tired! I don't wanna go to bed! _Chaaaaarge_!" He made a flying leap onto his bed, bouncing and giggling hysterically.

Sarah closed her eyes and counted to ten, not trusting herself to be calm enough to deal with the situation. Ten wasn't enough, so she counted to ten again in French. The great mood she had been in earlier was long gone. It had been a stressful day. She was tired. She was the beautiful princess, not the wicked stepmother. It wasn't fair.

_/You say that so often. I wonder what your basis for comparison is/_

Her eyes snapped open as the alien/familiar phrase popped into her head as easy as a key opening a locked door. Before she could open her mouth and demand he fall asleep RIGHT NOW, her eyes fell on a little leather bound book, half covered by the grinning face of a pirate that adorned Toby's Peter Pan bed sheets. She snatched it up, her hands shaking visibly. She swallowed hard.

_/It's not what you think it is-It can't be-You gave this away when you were 17/_

She slowly turned the book over, knowing what she was going to see before the words glared up at her.

"_Where did you get this_?" she hissed. It was like lighting dry leaves with a match; her mixed shock and rage was THAT instantaneous, and caused Toby to stop giggling.

"Someone…left it behind after school…"

"Toby, you KNOW better than to take things that aren't yours!"

"But…but…the note had my name on it…"

"What note?" Her tone dripped icicles.

"It said the book was for me…it was inside the cover…"

Sarah ignored him and flipped the pages of the book. Nothing fell out, but when she reached the title page she felt like she had been punched in the stomach. It was real. What was it doing in her little brother's bedroom?

"HOW DID YOU GET THIS BOOK?" she yelled uncontrollably.

Toby flinched backwards, unable to answer. The look in his sister's eyes scared him, and he started to whimper. She waited. He opened his mouth, thought better for a second, and changed his mind.

Her eyes narrowed. "_What_." It was not a question.

"Nothing," he said quickly. Toby was only a child, but that didn't mean he was stupid.

"WHAT?"

He was hesitant to answer. "It's just…you sound like mom. Like how she used to yell all the time," he admitted reluctantly, hanging his head. "Before she left us."

Sarah's eyes closed; shame, anger and exhaustion had pushed her over the edge. She went through hell for Toby, she had forsaken her own dreams for him, and he was the most important thing in the world to her. Somehow, she had let herself be turned into the villain.

Life really was insane.

"Get in bed."

"But-"

"NOW!" It slipped out before she could stop herself.

Silently, grudgingly, he obeyed, the helmet falling to the floor, a forgotten relic. "Geez Sarah, chill out."

"Goodnight, sleep tight, I don't want to hear a PEEP out of you until morning, _comprende_?" Tolerance was slowly returning. He was only a kid, he was only a kid, and lord was he sharp.

As she flipped off the light switch, she heard him mumble something under his breath.

"What was that, kiddo?"

"I said I wish the goblins would come and take _you_ away right now." It was rather huffy, and was nowhere near as dramatic as when she cried the phrase, holding baby Toby high in the air amidst a thunderstorm…but it did the trick.


	5. Three

Déjà vu overwhelmed her until Sarah felt like she was trapped in a bubble. Was that a giggle coming from the closet? The familiar room was now hostile territory, and she was afraid to move.

"Toby…"

"Mmmph." The sheets were pulled over his head.

"Toby?" Even in the dark, she could see his down cover was suspiciously restless.

"Iminbedawready," he grumbled at her.

_"TOBY!" _she cried, and yanked the covers off him. She screamed.

Toby sat up and screamed. He shared his bed with a swimming sea of writhing, grinning, drooling goblins. One of them started to eat his pillow with slow chomps, and he screamed again, loud and piercing, before Sarah snatched him in her arms and retreated into a corner, her back flat against the wall.

In horror, she watched the shadows in the room ripple as if alive, stretching and struggling from their two dimensional constraints. Toby's bed was now overwhelmed by a mountain of cackling goblins. Suddenly the window shutters flew open. Dark shapes spilled from the night like a swarm of insects, defying gravity by slithering up the wall. Ominous lumps were crawling under the rug towards her.

With Toby's arms around her neck in a death grip, two sets of eyes bulging in disbelief, Sarah had a flash of insight.

_/This is what Hansel and Gretel looked like when they discovered the Witch/_

A familiar silhouette filled the window. Tall and ominous, with a cape the color of midnight billowing around him, he stepped into the room. Thousands of tiny dark lights shimmered as he moved. Across the room, his mismatched eyes locked with hers.

"_You_."

His word held absolutely no emotion. But it did cause her mind, which was running furiously in neutral, to slip smoothly into gear.

"You can't have him!" she cried, sheltering the crying child's head into the crook of her neck. The resulting grin on his face was that of a cat that had eaten a whole _flock _of canaries.

"Silly girl. I am not here for _him._" The dim buzzing and babbling in the room stopped; all was still. After a moment of confusion, Sarah's mental recorder caught up with her.

_/I said I wish the goblins would come and take YOU away right now/_

Toby.

Toby had said the words.

Toby had wished her away to the goblins.

"Oh _fuck,"_ she whispered.

"Indeed," the Goblin King agreed. "It seems that fate is **not** without a sense of irony." He advanced slowly, stretching a gloved hand out in front of him, beckoning.

Sarah cringed. "Please, he didn't know what he was doing, he didn't mean it-"

"What was _said_ is _said_."

"I'm not going with you," Sarah said suddenly, feeling the flash of irritated anger that had always sparked when he was near, clinging to the reality of Toby as hard as he was clinging to her.

The fingers came up, forming a cup, a crystal ball suddenly in his grip.

"We can do this the _easy_ way," he said lightly, "or the _hard_ way." His voice dropped ten degrees. "Either way…_I win._" His grin spread even wider.

"No!" Toby cried, wiggling furiously in Sarah's arms. Surprised, she loosened her grip and he slid to the floor, standing on stocking-ed feet. He planted his little fists on his hips and tilted his chin up to the ceiling as he faced the Goblin King.

"You can't have her!"

The picture of the child defending the honor of his sister was so solemn and yet so ridiculous that one glittered eyebrow rose in shock, unbalanced eyes darting from Toby, to Sarah, and back to Toby. The towering King stooped.

"Would you like to play a game, Toby?"

Sarah's hands clenched.

"What kind of game?" Toby asked suspiciously. The dark visitor that knelt in front of him looked vaguely familiar, but a solid two years of teachers and parents preaching about not accepting candy or rides from strangers wasn't lost on Toby Williams.

"Do you like mazes?"

Toby thought about the mazes and puzzles in his coloring books. "Yeah…"

"If you want your sister back, you will have to find your way through a very big maze-"

"NO!" Sarah shouted. Two blonde heads swerved to face her; one startled and one just…waiting.

"No," she continued, stepping in front of the valiant Toby, maneuvering him behind her and ignoring his muffled protest. "No, I don't want him anywhere near the Labyrinth."

The Goblin King rose to his feet, his gaze sliding up her body like a physical touch.

"It is his right."

"_No_. We do this my way or else we're going to find out just how much of my self-defense training stuck with me from college."

He regarded her for a long moment. "Your fate rests in my hands and you dare threaten me?" The question was fueled more by curiosity than anger; she had changed since the last time they faced off.

"Sarah, no-" Toby's objection was cut off when Sarah clamped her hand over his mouth.

Sarah shifted her eyes from her half-brother to the Goblin King.

"I will come with you," she promised in a smooth voice, "silently and _willingly_." Sarah's tone hardened. "But _only_ if you promise me that Toby does not step one foot into the Labyrinth to try and save me."

"You will stay with me forever?" How he managed to hiss a word that had no sibilants, Sarah would never know.

Face to face, less than a foot away from each other, she could smell the scent of magic and spices; _his_ scent. His power was like a wild beast, assaulting her senses; she knew she could lose herself to him as easily as she _almost_ had years ago. The ball of energy behind her that was stuffed into candy cane pajamas, though, was her anchor and so she did not hesitate.

"Only if you promise…"

He bowed slightly, breeze from the open window stirring pale golden locks of his hair. "I give you my word."

"Then we're agreed." Her eyes closed, her world shrinking to darkness. An image of her father came to her; sleeping at his desk instead of his bed where so much unhappy memories roosted, totally unaware that the only woman left in his life was about to leave him. Tears started to drip down her cheeks; she knew she couldn't even say good-bye.

"Time grows short. We must leave." She felt his light touch on her shoulder and twisted away, sickened.

"Let me…I need to write my father a note at least." He regarded her silently, his alien beauty motionless. Finally one gloved hand raised- a crystal ball was in his palm. With a twist of his wrist, it became a piece of parchment and a quill. She took them from him and bent over Toby's small nightstand, trying to see the paper through her tears.

Sensing her distress, the Goblin King snapped his fingers. Waves of Goblins began pouring out into the night in a rippling tide, beckoned back to their city. Their King waited by the window, staring wordlessly up at the glowing stars.

Toby stood by her side. "Sarah, please? I know I can make it."

"No," she sniffled, trying to sound like she knew what she was doing. "I can't take that chance. Dad can't lose both of us, he just _can't_."

The mention of their father knocked some sense back into Toby. Sarah was right, even at his age he could see his dad was in bad shape.

"What am I gonna tell him about you?" His words started to hitch; crying was catching.

"Nothing. You're not going to say anything. Just…give him this when he wakes up, okay? Can you do that for me, kiddo?" Now neither one made an attempt to mask their tears. This wasn't some vacation she was leaving for; this was forever-

_/It's only forever, it's not long at all/_

She was blind, her head bending until her chin was tucked against her chest, biting her tongue in order to not sob aloud in front of Toby.

"Yeah, no problemo."

She wiped her eyes and looked down at the note.

_/Dad-I just can't take this anymore-I have to go and live my own life-please don't be mad at me-please forgive me-I love you and Toby very much/_

A photo of her dad, Toby and herself was perched precariously on the nightstand in a colorful clown picture frame. The three of them were on the beach; suntanned, happy and smiling under an endless blue sky. It had been a good day. Sarah reached for the picture, tucking it under her arm. She handed over the note.

"You won't forget?" she managed before bursting into tears again. Toby, unable to bear the consequences of his thoughtless action, threw his arms around her and hugged her fiercely. She returned the squeeze, her arms locking around her brother. It was the briefest and longest moment of her life.

"I love you, Sarah."

Her sob was painful. "I love you too." Somehow she found the strength to let him go. "Take care of dad, okay?"

Toby nodded, unable to speak. His face was as red as his pajamas.

"Time to go." The Goblin King was right behind her, his breath on her neck.

Sarah cupped Toby's chin in her hand, kissed him on the cheek and winked. "I'll be okay."

As one, Sarah and the Goblin King turned towards the window. It was like she was fifteen again. She turned to him, tear trails still fresh on her cheeks.

"That's the castle beyond the Goblin City?"

He nodded. "You should know. You almost destroyed it once." His bitterness was like acid rain.

"What a pity I didn't finish the job," she said archly, clutching the picture frame in her hand so hard she was afraid it was going to break.

"Close your eyes," he whispered, and took her free hand, leading her into the Underground.


	6. Four

Walking through a cloud of magic was like walking through cobwebs; it made Sarah want to brush herself off. Even before she opened her eyes, she knew she was no longer in her house. The air was different, heavy and stale, and the smell of Goblins assaulted her senses.

"Welcome home," he whispered in her ear.

She stood in the very center of the large room, which was in a state of shambles. A veritable coliseum of creatures wiggled on massive stone steps in a semi-circle around a run down throne, the perfect audience for a Goblin King. It seemed like nothing in the room wasn't moving or writhing except the floor, and then she realized every single one of them was leering at her. Including _him._

Her hands tightened around the picture frame.

He stared at her like he had no idea what to do with her now that he had her. After a long moment, during which she spent staring remotely at the hem of his black glittered cape, he finally spoke.

"I will show you to your room."

Her jaw dropped. "My room? But I…I thought…" her eyes darted instinctively to the chattering Goblins.

_/13 hours before your baby brother becomes on of us…forever/_

"Did you _want_ to sleep in the throne room then?" he asked a tad too impatiently, and his temper brought her back a bit from the edge of her overwhelming sadness. The childish anger he always roused was a welcome interruption.

"I thought…I'd be turned into one of them…"

He grinned wryly. "Whatever made you think that?"

Now she was really irritated; her dark eyebrows pinched together. "It's in the story."

Hands on a pair of very slim hips, boot heels clicking on the stone floor, he paced a circle around the flabbergasted Sarah. "I never _said_ I would turn you into a Goblin, now did I?"

She flashed him a dark look over one shoulder. "You never told me otherwise…"

"You never asked." He stopped in front of a giant archway, and reached for a dripping candelabrum.

Tears of frustration pricked her eyes. "You let…you let me believe I'm going to become…one of those…" she swallowed hard, and held her head high, proud stubbornness refusing to allow her to break down in front of her captor. "Take me to my room."

They walked silently down long corridors. Sarah had no interest in her surroundings, so she kept her eyes averted to the cold stone and the shabby carpets she crossed over as he led her to her new bedroom.

"Consider this castle and the Goblin City your home. You may go wherever you wish…except into the Labyrinth or the West Wing of the Goblin Castle."

She snorted lightly. "I've already beaten it once, what can the Labyrinth do to me?"

He stopped so suddenly that she bumped into his back. He whirled around and with his free hand, grabbed her by the arm, hauling her closer until she was nose to nose with him.

"Do not think that because you defeated it once that it is conquered. If it could, the Labyrinth would eat…you…_alive_…" he hissed, emphasizing the last few words as hard as he could. Her eyes were wide, their jade green depths so clear he could almost see his reflection in their surface.

"And the West Wing?" she managed to stutter.

"…is none of your concern," he stated softly, releasing his grip on her arm. She retreated quickly, stepping back and rubbing her arm with a wounded look on her face.

"But why-"

_"It is FORBIDDEN!"_ he erupted, turning from her wince and striding down the hall, not bothering to see if she caught up.

The castle was drafty and dingy, and Sarah refrained from touching the numerous growling gargoyle statues that adorned all the hallways. He was waiting in front of a set of large doors. When she approached, he pushed one of the doors open. She walked silently into the dark room. He followed her, setting the candelabrum down on a crooked table.

"If you need anything, my servants will attend you." When she didn't answer, he felt the need to go on, unwilling to leave it at that. She was withdrawn, grief-stricken, and it was not the Sarah he was used to.

"I will send my tailor to see about suitable clothes."

Sarah glanced at him, his form fitting black breeches, the frilly cream colored tunic and the black waistcoat that shimmered as he moved, then down at her black t-shirt and heart printed pajama bottoms. Clothing had not even occurred to her. Considering she only had one pair of panties, it was a good thing he had. She glanced up at his face. It was like a glass mask, cold and still. She was unnerved when he didn't continue; when they weren't fighting, she had no clue how to address him.

"You…will join me for dinner," he finally said.

"I'm not hungry."

"That was NOT a request!" Angrily, he strode out of the room, pausing as a silhouette in the doorway.

"Eight o' clock sharp," he said before yanking the door closed with a resounding BOOM…which was followed by a smaller thud as Sarah hurled a small something at him a few seconds too late.

The book she had grabbed fell harmlessly to the floor, and then she was alone in the silent chamber, the glow from the flickering candles her only source of illumination. She looked down at the picture she had held in a death grip for the last half an hour. The three faces smiled up at her, unchanging.

The frame clattered to the ground as her hands went up, covering her face to muffle the sobs against the natural echoes of the room. Unable to stop herself, her knees buckled and she collapsed to the floor, weeping hysterically for the family she had just lost forever.

* * *

Elsewhere in the castle, clawed toes tapped out an impatient pattern on the grimy floor. Two glowing red eyes turned toward the door expectantly as it opened slowly, a small huffing and puffing audible over the squeaking hinges, which could only come from a small creature trying to open a 200-lb. door. The guest made every attempt to shut it as quietly as possible, but decades of rust and misuse ensured a creak loud enough to wake the dead. The imp winced as the door clicked shut with the sound of a small nuclear explosion before he was snatched off his feet and held upside down.

"I thought I told you to KNOCK!" Caliban roared. His eyes were the color of freshly spilled blood.

The imp, Newt, turned from plum to magenta to a nice chartreuse in fear before finally settling on an indistinct gray color.

"I have news!" he squeaked, losing feeling in his webbed feet as the ogre swung him back and forth carelessly.

The swinging stopped, and one mottled eyebrow arched in expectation.

"She's here!"

Startled, Caliban the ogre opened his claws, and Newt dropped headfirst to the floor. The imp, outweighed by about three hundred pounds, knew better than to squeal in protest. But he did rub his head in dismay, checking to make sure both horns were still there and accounted for before limping a safe distance away.

Of course, there was no safe distance away from a pissed off ogre.

"The girl who defeated him…she's come back to finish the job?" Caliban muttered to himself.

"Ah, well, not exactly, boss," Newt piped up, desire to spill the gossip overwhelming any fear caused by being the exact size of an ogre's midday snack. "She's been wished here. By a child."

Stunned, Caliban recoiled before opening his mouth to chortle madly. Newt clapped his hands over his misshapen ears; the laughter of an ogre was worse than a thousand nails scratched along a thousand blackboards. Finally the storm of hilarity passed, and Caliban collapsed into a withered armchair that groaned under his weight.

"This is too perfect!"

"Exactly, boss!" he agreed enthusiastically before pausing. "What's perfect?"

"She's here…and this time _she's** HIS**_ slave. Oh…I will be able to rule the Underground yet." He clacked his decaying teeth together horribly.

"You know boss, this place is kind of a dump-"

Before he could finish, he was swept off his feet again, this time cowering in the creased palm of the glaring monster. Uncontrollably, he changed from grey to royal blue in an instant.

"Fool! If that so-called King of ours had any guts, we would not be trapped here in this Goblin City…afraid of the Labyrinth…we could take it by force…"

"But the Labyrinth-"

"Is weak and ill-used. The time has passed when it was well-fed with stupid humans…now is the time, Newt." He dropped the cowering imp on the floor and thudded towards the door. It was time to talk with the Goblin King.

"He'll never let you talk him into it. The days when he trusted you are over."

Caliban paused by the door. "Who said I was going to _talk_?"

Newt gaped at the grinning ogre. "You're going to kill Jareth!" he squeaked.

The dirty grin grew wider.

"Why slay his body? If you kill the spirit, you kill the man. I promised myself I would be the Goblin King, and now that she's here I know exactly how to do it." With that, he was gone.


	7. Five

Sarah's misery halted as she heard the door open. Her eyes widened when she saw a familiar wrinkled face peek around the corner.

"Thought you might like some company," a gravelly voice said.

"Hoggle!" she cried, the tears drying on her cheeks at the sight of her friend who crept tentatively into the room. Before she could get up to hug him, a sly Sir Didymus scampered into the room sans Ambrocious, followed by slowly trudging Ludo, who swung his bushy tail to close the door. Before it shut all the way, a ball of light streaked through the gap with a magical _WOOSH!_

Overwhelmed, Sarah started crying and laughing at the same time, jumping to her feet and running into Ludo's outstretched arms and letting herself be engulfed by her friends. Sir Didymus scampered up the orange monster's broad back and onto Sarah's shoulder, chattering happily while Hoggle squeezed her hand comfortingly.

"That was a very brave thing you did for Sir Toby," the little fox said.

Her shoulders sagged. "But I've lost my family…my life…" she started to sniffle, and then smiled again.

"Oh, I am so glad to see you guys," she managed through her tears.

"Sarah…no sad…" Ludo purred, his massive hand rubbing her head in reassurance, which caused her entire skull to wobble precariously on her neck. Sarah disengaged herself from his embrace carefully, and sat on the bed.

"I'm not sad…not right now. I'm really just…so…happy," she choked on her tears, "t-to see you!"

"There, there milady! Didst thou think your champions would desert you in your hour of need?" He jumped onto the cushy mattress next to her, teeth bared in a friendly attempt at a smile. Hoggle settled in on the other side of her; a pair of bookends.

"It's wonderful to see you again, Sarah," he said.

She sniffed. "I just wish it could be under better circumstances-"

"a**HEM**!" the glowing orb interrupted, tired of being ignored. It flew down to Sarah's eye level, hovering angrily.

Sarah looked at Hoggle in confusion. "What is that?"

"Oh that? That's just-"

"A fairy!" Sarah said, recoiling reflexively, remembering the last time a fairy had been near her. That bite hadn't healed for WEEKS.

"Excuse ME, I am NOT a fairy," it declared hotly, burning brighter for a few seconds, "_I_ am a _PIXIE_."

Confused, Sarah managed a small "…oh…"

"Not to interrupt your sweet little reunion here, but I've been sent by his majesty to get you into some decent attire…and from the looks of things, I really have my work cut out for me." The glow darted from side to side, assessing Sarah from all angles.

"That's very kind of you, but-"

"No buts. I've come to measure you for your gowns. You need to have one ready for dinner tonight."

"I appreciate that but I'm not going to dinner," Sarah finally managed to interject.

The pixie sighed. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Now that pricked her temper, and Sarah frowned. "Look, the way you people issue ultimatums around here is really-"

She was cut off as the ball of light grew in intensity to the point where Sarah had to throw her hands up in front of her eyes. Vaguely, she heard a tinkling of bells that sounded an awful lot like curse words as the light surrounded her. She felt little cords being thrown around various parts of her body and tightened as the light made its way down her body. The entire measuring attack lasted only twenty seconds.

"Fine. The hard way. You have good proportions but you really need to work on that attitude," the pixie quipped as she zipped towards the closed door.

"Hell-o, little help here?"

Ludo obediently lumbered to the door and opened it, letting the antagonistic pixie from hell exit with an annoyed "hmph!"

"What…was THAT!" Sarah managed, finally remembering to breathe.

"That was the royal tailor…I'd say don't mind Portia but you really managed to get on her bad side with that fairy remark."

"That…that _thing_ is going to make my clothes?" A yawn threatened to split her face.

"I think, milady, that all of this would be better discussed after a good night's sleep."

"Sarah…sleep," Ludo affirmed, and motioned Sir Didymus out of the room.

"Yes, well, you probably should rest," Hoggle said, jumping down from the bed and scampering off with the other two thirds of the trio before Sarah could gather her wits around her. "Tomorrow we will show you around the castle, and then you can have dinner with Jareth."

"I'm not having dinner with-" a yawn overwhelmed her speech again, so the last word came out more like _'eeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiireehhhhhhhh.' _No one was around to hear her protest, so she closed her eyes and fell back into the down pillows of the bed.

* * *

Sitting on a window ledge, gazing out over the Labyrinth as he half-heartedly spun two crystals in his palm; Jareth frowned and turned towards his unannounced visitor.

"I didn't hear you come in."

A monstrous shadow loomed closer, hovering silently. Long tendrils of gray-green hair dripped down malformed shoulders, and two red eyes narrowed at the acknowledgment.

"How did you know I was here then?"

Jareth blew on the crystals sending them into the air, hopefully to spawn dreams of goblins and Kings. He turned calmly to face the sinister ogre.

"I was downwind."

Caliban grinned. It was a horrible sight. "A master of your environment. Wonderful, your Majesty."

Jareth nodded graciously. "You taught me well."

"Not well enough. You have let the Labyrinth be the master," the ogre growled, his temper flaring with the declaration, "when it is _we_ who should-"

The Goblin King held out his palm, shaking his head wearily. "The Labyrinth and I are both servants in the Underground. That is the way it must be. I am not in the mood for dicussing this issue again."

Caliban stilled, leashing in his anger. He took a few deep breaths before replying.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he said humbly, and displaying his oversized hands palms up in a gesture of conciliation.

"I did not summon for you." Jareth moved past the ogre without a second glance.

_/kill him now, take the crown, no one will know/_

"No," Caliban muttered, bringing a misshapen claw to his forehead to silence the voice of treason inside his mind. Assassinating the King, killing him suddenly, would cause everything to fall apart. His subjects had to lose all faith first…

"Did you say something?"

"No," Caliban said smoothly, "you did not summon for me. But, if I waited until you felt the need for advice or a sympathetic ear, I would be a very lonely Royal Councilor."

The Goblin King lowered his head in acceptance of the statement before liquidly draping himself over a tattered settee. In his personal quarters there was no need to use any sort of false pretenses; however there were also no Goblins to decimate the area, so everything was worn around the edges but otherwise in fairy good condition.

"And which brings you here today? Your mouth or your ears?"

Caliban bowed slightly in the formal sign of respect before lowering his massive form to the floor, the difficulty of such an action showing on his lumpy face. Jareth watched it all with impassivity.

"Perhaps a little bit of both. I hear we have an unexpected guest."

Jareth snorted in annoyance, turning his head slightly to gaze once again out the window. "For being absolutely inept at anything remotely helpful, the Goblins do manage to astound me with their ability to gossip."

"They are excited. Can you blame them?" The ogre had effortlessly slipped back into his old role as the Advisor to the King, to which he had been appointed from the moment of Jareth's birth. It was an easy vocation, as long as the holder had the ability to be diplomatic and manipulative at the same time. It was a role that fit Caliban well.

"They get excited when the Cook makes gruel for dinner. I do not place any significance on their state of mind," Jareth said crossly, swinging his legs to the floor and sinking low in the chair. He rested on his spine, folding his hands primly on his belly. Caliban waited in silence.

"She cannot do anything to help us now," the King finally admitted.

"But the thought has crossed your mind."

"Of course it has!" Jareth erupted, exploding from the low couch. He paced around the room and tugged absently at the spiky locks of his hair. "The time draws near and everyone is looking to me for an answer." The entirety of the Underground and his curse was like a dead weight on his shoulders.

"She forsook you once. She will do it again."

A heavy knock sounded on the door to the King's chambers. The desire to ignore the bitterness ensuing from Caliban's quiet presence caused Jareth to wave his hand impatiently. The doors flew open harder than he intended, revealing a surprised trio with arms still raised to knock again.

"Excuse us Your Majesty, but-" Hoggle stopped short as he saw the shadowy mountain of the ogre.

_"_What is _he_ doing here_?" _the dwarf spat, breaking out into a sweat when Caliban rose to his feet. If the night sky could stand up, it would look as ominous as the ogre.

"Hello Hogwart," Caliban gritted between his yellow teeth.

"Hog-**gle**."

Sir Didymus was growling softly in his throat, his muzzle twitching above his pointed fangs in an obvious display of mistrust. Ludo was a comforting presence at their backs; however he was still outsized by Caliban by at least a foot and thirty pounds. That didn't stop him, however, from planting his padded paws a shoulders' width apart in a traditional defensive stance.

"What do we have here?" the ogre asked docilely, his masks securely in place in the presence of the Goblin King. "The gardner, the retired knight and their pet…how nice."

Hoggle, the wisest of his friends, decidedly turned his back on the agitator to face the Goblin King, who had been watching the exchange silently.

"Your Majesty…I think it would be wise if you left Sarah alone for the time being…let her get adjusted."

"You _think_? I do not pay you to _think_. Come to think of it…I don't pay you at all."

Caliban, well trained, uttered a polite guffaw. Ludo plugged his ears and made a face.

"The lady…she is all alone in this place," the little fox tried.

"Well then, it's wonderful that I have you three to keep her company," Jareth drawled before pointing to the door. "I have business that must be attended to and can waste no more time."

Dejectedly, Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo sidled toward the door, each of them waging a silent war with the consequences of their interference. Caliban stood, grinning smugly as he watched them retreat.

"You, too."

At the sight of one gloved finger pointing at the door, the grin disappeared off his horrid face. He did not like being dismissed so easily. Anger started to spread over his face, but the thought of the Goblin King, rejected and defeated, helped Caliban slowly unfurl his clenched claws.

"As you wish." The ogre left silently, unable to trust what he would say if he spoke again. The doors slammed shut behind him, echoing down the hallways of the castle. He charged down the hall muttering under his breath, swiftly returning to the lower levels of the castle where he resided. If he had been paying attention, he would have seen three pairs of eyes, narrowed in mistrust, following his progress down the hall.

"We need to keep Caliban away from Jareth and Sarah if this is going to work," Hoggle said finally. The other two nodded in agreement.


	8. Six

Sleep eluded him the entire night, and all day he was plagued with the constant idiocy of his Goblins, as well as the watchful silence of his former Advisor.

Which was why he was treading back and forth, irritated, in front of a giant stone fireplace in the Great Goblin Hall. Showing an ounce of wisdom for once, the cackling gaggle of Goblins had vacated the room, leaving the hall eerily silent.

"What's taking so long? I told her to be here. Why isn't she here yet!" Jareth growled, his knee high leather boots stuttering out an agitated pattern on the cobblestone floor. The only accompanying sound was the ticking of a thirteen-hour clock, which read a quarter past eight. In the next room, a sumptuous banquet was laid out, a happy change from the normal slop that his cook mixed up.

"Try to be patient, Your Majesty. She's lost her family and her freedom all in a day," Hoggle reasoned, carefully keeping all fingers and toes away from the Goblin King's angry pacing.

"Um…Your Highness…have you thought…perhaps…Sarah was meant to be the one who breaks the spell after all?"

The response to Sir Didymus's question was a heated glare.

"So…talk to her…reason with her," the fox urged, "you fall in love with her, she falls in love with you, and we're all human again by midnight!"

The dwarf turned in disbelief to his debonair partner. "It's not that easy, you don't just fall in love overnight."

_/I'll paint your mornings of gold; spin you valentine evenings though we're strangers til now/_

Love at first sight indeed.

The sound of the Goblin King's teeth grinding together joined the footfalls and second hand of the clock.

Pride and the outrageous sense of justice flaring, Sir Didymus's voice grew in decibels with every syllable. "But the rose has already begun to wilt. Do we back away from any challenge here forth? Do we not have our wits to see us through? **Are we mice or men, dammit!" **

Outraged squeaks were heard from inside the castle walls.

"Oh. Right."

Jareth halted. "It's no use. She's so beautiful, and I'm so…well look at this place. Look at where we are!"

They looked.

"She hates me," he admitted simply.

"You must help her past that," Hoggle said, watching the Goblin King drape himself over a large armchair to stare desolately at the fire.

_"I don't know how."_

"Well, start by making yourself presentable. Stop slouching," the agitated fox began, climbing onto the back of the chair and thwacking the Goblin King with his walking stick. Jareth sat up in disbelief.

"That's better," Sir Didymus said, unaware of how close he had just come to know the Bog of Eternal Stench intimately. "Try to act like a gentleman. When she comes in, flash her that charming Goblin King smile you have. Go on, try it."

The corners of Jareth's mouth tugged up in a cruel imitation of a smile. It was what he was used to.

Hoggle took a step back. "But don't frighten her."

The smile dropped off his face.

"How about impressing her with that infamous wit of yours?" Hoggle started, and then realized what he was saying and who he was saying it to, and stopped. He tried again. "Be gentle."

"Shower the lady with compliments," Sir Didymus fired at him.

"But be sincere," the dwarf warned. "And above all,"

**"Try to control your temper!"** the two wayward relationship therapists finished in unison. They were met with another glare. Before he could decide which threat was the best response to their advice, the door to the Great Hall creaked open. Jareth stood so suddenly that Sir Didymus, who had been perched like a parrot on his shoulder, was thrown to the floor. A cloud of dust softened his impact, and the fox sneezed.

All three men looked at the door expectantly. Jareth found himself swallowing hard, an unfamiliar uneasy sensation settling into the pit of his stomach.

Ludo's massive orange head poked through the doorway. Jareth, Hoggle, and Sir Didymus relaxed as one.

The Goblin King's relief didn't last long. "Well, where is she?" he growled.

"Sarah…sarah say…welllllllll…she…uuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh," the monster purred slowly, stuttering over how to break the news. Finally, his synapses and vocabulary being fairly limited, he hung his head and admitted the truth.

"Sarah not coming."

**_"WHAAAT!"_** The Goblin King's outraged outburst rolled like thunder through the hallways and corridors of the Goblin Castle and out to the streets of the surrounding Goblin City. Before anyone could speak, Jareth was past Ludo and out the door, moving so fast that his feet hit the floor only on every forth step; by the time he reach the hallway leading to her room he was flying. Hoggle and Sir Didymus were clinging to Ludo's broad back as the monster followed as close behind as he could manage.

"Your Highness," Hoggle panted, "let's not be hasty!"

Jareth was already pounding on the door in a most UN-royal manner. _"I thought I told you to come down to dinner!"_

"I'm not hungry," her voice protested, muffled through the heavy door.

"You come down or I will blow the door off the hinges!" he demanded, his hair standing up in wilder spikes than normal.

"Your Majesty," Sir Didymus started, "this may not be the best way to help her get over her homesickness."

"Then she shouldn't be so DIFFICULT," Jareth yelled, directing his anger through the wood.

"Gently, gently," Hoggle soothed.

The Goblin King paused and took a deep breath. "Would you please come down to dinner?"

"_No_."

"You! Open! Up! Right! Now!" he pounded out his frustrations on the innocent door.

"Not on your life, pal." They all heard her stifled mutter.

_"You can't stay in there forever."_

"Wanna bet?" She sounded like she was on the other side of the door.

"Fine!" Jareth threw up his hands in anger. "Go ahead and STARVE!" The last word came out sounding like something roared by a wild, rampaging beast. A dingy, dust-ridden portrait of a smiling ghoulie across the hall slipped from its hook at the sound.

Feeling the resulting vibrations in her palms, which had been flattened against the door, Sarah backed up uncertainly. She didn't doubt he could blow the door to Kingdom Come if he had half a mind to.

"If she doesn't eat with _me_, she doesn't eat at _all_," the Goblin King warned the others. "Anyone who defies me will be slowly lowered into the Bog of Eternal Stench over a period of 100 years, _do I make myself clear_?" Before he received an answer, he strode away.

Hoggle, Sir Didymus, and Ludo looked at each other unhappily.

"That didn't go well at all." Again, the dwarf spoke for everyone.

* * *

The Goblin King was back to pacing in the Great Hall, a pastime becoming so frequent that he was starting to wear grooves into the stone floor.

"I ask her politely and she refuses," he raged, "What does she want me to do? Beg!"

_/Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave/_

He threw the crystal ball he had been rotating in his palm into the fire at the memory. It shattered into a thousand pieces.

"I just thought you might like to know," Caliban said from the shadows where he had observed the outburst, "that the Goblins have found the banquet. There might be some table scraps left but…"

_"Not. Now."_

The ogre emerged into the glowing firelight. "Might I suggest looking in on the girl? It might help you…understand her." Newt had already informed him of the confrontation. Caliban knew Jareth would be teetering on the edge of fragility.

Arrogantly, without a second thought to her privacy, Jareth drew a crystal into his palm.

"Show me the girl."

In the orb's depths, he saw Sarah. She was sitting on her bed, still wearing the godforsaken heart patterned pants and ratty black shirt, her arms wrapped around Ludo's massive form.

"He's really not so bad once you get to know him," Hoggle was saying.

Sarah's shoulders shook as she sobbed aloud. "I don't want to get to know him. I don't want to have anything to DO with him!" The scene faded.

Jareth shook his head sadly. "I'm just fooling myself. She'll never see me as anything but a villain." The crystal slid from his limp fingers, its hopeless destruction against the stone floor mirroring his loss.

Caliban drew back into the shadows, a satisfied smile on his face. The seeds of the King's downfall had been planted, and were starting to take root.


	9. Seven

A knock sounded at the door, a thousand times more civil than the Goblin King's rude barrage of pounding. Sarah extracted herself from Ludo's embrace.

"Who's there?"

"_Who's there, who's there_. How original! Open up, my arms are about to fall off."

Curious about what would make a Pixie's arms fall off, Sarah opened the door. Immediately, a garment bag walloped her in the face as Portia pushed herself and her baggage through the doorway.

_"SO_ nice of you to notify me that you were canceling your dinner reservations," the pixie trilled. "No one thinks to tell me, as always. It's not like I was hyperventilating about getting these DONE in time. It's not like I matter at all…" It was like tuning in during the middle of Jerry Springer. Portia's entire conversation had a built-in censor; every other word was edited by a distinctly bell-like sound.

"I'm sorry," Sarah inserted when Portia took the time to breathe.

"You're sorry, he's sorry, everyone's sorry. Here," she said, dropping the garment bag on Sarah's bed and whisking it off with a flourish. "Ta-da!"

Sarah gasped. Four exquisite dresses were revealed; in shades of lavender, green, red and deep blue that were each a perfect match for her coloring. She blinked in amazement. The first thought that popped into her head was a refusal of any sort of gift _he_ might have sent her.

The second thought was that she was beginning to smell.

The third was that she had no clue what a vengeful pixie was capable of.

"Go ahead, try them on!" Hoggle insisted, pushing the pale lavender gown in her arms. Quickly, Sarah moved behind a dressing screen and shed her ratty pajamas. It took a few minutes and a little help from Portia with the buttons in the back, but they managed to figure it out without much physical or emotional damage. It took some coaxing, and Sir Didymus's sworn blood oath to persuade Sarah to venture from her room once she was properly dressed and compliments were paid to a visibly proud Pixie.

"You are not a prisoner, milady. You are our guest! We would be honored to take you on a tour of the Kingdom. Is there anything you would like to see first?"

Sarah thought back to the last time she had seen the Goblin City, as she was running through it in fear of her life.

"Maybe we should start small. I'd like to see more of the castle."

"Of course! Of course," Hoggle doted, "anywhere in particular you would like to start?"

Although the room that simulated the Escher painting was something she planned on exploring for a few days, maybe even learn how the Goblin King walked on walls…the rumbling in her stomach took forbearance.

"I am a little hungry," she admitted. The trio of friends looked at her in confused amazement.

"Why did you refuse dinner then?"

She shrugged sheepishly. "It was the principle of it."

She was met with silence.

"Well…it's just that whenever he's around, issuing orders, treating me like a slave…I just become irrational. I don't really know why."

Hoggle and Sir Didymus exchanged a grin. Things were looking up.

"Smeelllll baaaaaaaaaaaad," Ludo interjected, reminding them all of what would happen if they broke the Goblin King's decree. As one, Ludo, Hoggle and Sarah shuddered, remembering the Bog of Eternal Stench.

"I say is it cold in here?" the little fox inquired, unaware. "You're shivering!"

Sarah shook her head and smiled. "He said anyone who defied orders by giving me food would be punished. He didn't say anything about me _stealing_ food."

"Stealing baad!"

"I know Ludo but…desperate times call for desperate measures." With that, she strode down the hallway, head held high at the prospect of food.

* * *

Despite the concerns and worries of her companions, Sarah filched three extremely ripe apples from the cluttered larder, thought again, and added half a loaf of bread and a sausage to her pile of booty. Well fed, she had a clearer outlook on her situation.

For better or for worse, bound by her word, for the time being she was stuck here.

The Goblin King may have _power_ over her, but he didn't _control_ her.

_And what was in that damn West Wing?_

Curiosity overtaking her sensibility, Sarah separated herself from her friends as they performed their duties as tour guides, pointing out every nook and cranny the Goblin Castle had to offer. When they had passed a great stairway that led up to yet another level, she had heard Didymus whisper to Hoggle about the West Wing. Slowly and carefully, she made her way back to that staircase using the trail of crumbs she had surreptitiously left along the corridors.

"I wonder what he's hiding," she murmured as she tiptoed her way upstairs.

Nothing moved, not even the breath of the wind stirred in the hallway. The air was heavy with magic and spices. The floor was still rough edged stone, but now deep red carpets had been thrown down carelessly to protect trespassing feet. Her excitement began to dwindle, and her conscience was beating her over the head as she made her way down the carpet that led to a dead end in front of two solid doors. Gargoyle and Gremlin statues framed the doorway, forbidding sentries frowning their discontent down on her. Her hand rose towards the oversized handle, paused, and then her natural stubbornness took over. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her way inside.

It was so dark that it took a few moments for her eyes to adjust. During that time she hovered close to the door, breathing in shallowly through her nose. The room held his scent within its walls, its carpets, and its furniture.

_This is his lair, _she thought_. This is his den._

Soon Sarah was able to see the dim outlines of furniture and objects, and thought it was because her eyes were used to the darkness. It took her a few seconds to realize it was because a light was struggling to bloom in the next room, the source just out of sight through a stone archway. All was so still, and the room was so empty of presence that Sarah knew she was alone.

She slowly edged her way along the wall towards the glow. Peering around the corner, she bit back a gasp of amazement.

A single scarlet rose was suspended inside a glass case. The light was coming from the rose; in fact it was as if hundreds of pinpricks of light lifted and fell within the crystal prison. Beneath the stem was a pile of petals, which had wilted off the bud.

"Curiouser and curiouser," she murmured, approaching the high table that held the rose. It stood at chest height, so she was able to easily fold her arms on the surface of the marble top and rest her chin on her hands, entranced by the play of lights. They danced as if alive, and as she watched, another petal drifted down to rest with the others. Before she knew what she was doing, her hand was moving towards the top of the case, and she was surprised to realize she fully intended on lifting it up off the rose.

A shadow fell over the room, interrupting the twinkling glow. The rustle of a full cape flapping in the wind and the sound of magic overwhelmed her and then suddenly he was there.

_"What are you doing here?" _the Goblin King howled. Startled, Sarah bumped into the corner of a chair and fell down.

_"_You little _fool_, don't you _know_ what you could have _don_e!"

"Wait, I can explain-" she started, scooting backwards across the floor, away from the madness in his eyes.

**"**_Why did you come here?"_he roared, advancing.

"S-st-stop, p-please."

_"I WARNED YOU NEVER TO COME HERE!"_ His teeth were bared, fury distorting his features into a beast-like mask as he towered over her. His hands rose, as if attempting to encircle a patch of air, and his power was flung out in a wide arc, overturning chairs and shattering mirrors. In the midst of the chaotic storm, the rose's vase remained untouched.

Even at his most desperate, she had never seen him this angry. Sarah was terrified. "Please, no, stop!"

**"GET OUT!"** he boomed, directing the stream of energy directly at her. She was lifted into the air like she was shot out of a catapult, and was blown through the closed chamber doors. Her impending impact with the floor was stopped as she collided with Ludo, who was running towards Jareth's quarters. He caught her and lowered her to the ground in surprise.

"We're too late," Hoggle moaned, limping towards the scene of the crime.

**_"GEEEEEET OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT."_** The sound grew on a rising note, accompanied by a cruel gust of wind that blew her hair away from her face. The second her feet hit the floor she was running, fleeing from her mistake, from his rage, from the Castle itself.

"Wait, milady, where are you going?"

"I have to get away!" she cried blindly, gathering her full skirts in her hands, "I can't stay here!"

"No, wait, please, you don't understand!' the fox started, but she was already gone, sprinting towards the gates of the Castle.

Inside, Hoggle turned to Jareth, who lowered his arms slowly, the rage on his face slowly fading, replaced by the horrible realization of what just happened.

"_What have you done_?" the dwarf whispered.


	10. Eight

_Author's note: Originally I used the lyrics to "Hell" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Since has gotten so insane about use of lyrics, I've altered a little bit of this chapter. Sorry if it seems incongruous. _

_Author's P.S.: for the reviewers that think this is a little too much like Disney's Beauty and the Beast, I only have one word: Duh._

* * *

Ignoring Jareth's warning about the unbelievable danger that lay within the Labyrinth, Sarah headed straight for the massive gates to the Goblin City. She surprised the guard on duty, who was fishing in the gutter of the street for a fallen piece of ham, racing past him and through the side door that led into the true Underground. She didn't care, she didn't care about herself or danger or anything; all she could think about what the look on his face when he discovered her. All she could hear was his howling carried by the wind.

She ran until her legs were ready to collapse. By the time she stopped, a burning stitch in her side and a shallow cut running down one cheek, she realized she was in a glittering forest that dripped everywhere with cobwebs. The trees seemed to swallow the sound of her panting, turn it into something muffled and dead. Icy fingers began to tickle her spine, and she shivered violently before she could help it.

"Hello?" Now the first threads of fear caused the two-syllable word to tremble, and she bit her lip, clenching her fists.

_/Why does this seem familiar/_

Slowly, Sarah moved foot by foot over the uneven ground, scanning the trees and leaves as best she could for any sign of life. Although she was taking extra precaution, she still managed to trip over a large stone, falling with an audible _"oof!"_

Wincing as she inspected her scraped palms, she sat up to examine what she had stumbled over, and gasped.

Even in the darkness, she could read the heavily chiseled words:

R.I.P.

She scooted back in surprise, and bumped into another gravestone, this one engraved with a flying angel. When she looked closer, the angel winked and stuck out its tongue. She recoiled, but before she could move, the ground began to shake violently, as if a herd of elephants were stampeding underneath the earth.

"Hoggle!" Sarah cried, trying to stand and falling again on top of a grave. A bony hand shot up through the grass and clutched her wrist in an iron grip. She shrieked and tore herself out of the dead grasp, rolling over onto her stomach away from the grave. Unfortunately, this put her right on top of another grave. Before she could draw in another breath to scream again, the ground exploded in a shower of earth, raining dirt down on her.

Sarah coughed, wiping excess dirt and gravel from her eyes. Through the dust she could make out shapes encircling her. Her eyes widened as the cloud settled.

Corpses in all stages of decomposition surrounded her, grinning. Her heart leapt into her throat.

"Five, six, seven, eight," a skeleton in the tattered remains of a Zoot Suit croaked, and raucous swing music filled the air.

"Hey baby, what you doin' in this neck of the woods?" the lipless mouth drawled, and bent to hoist Sarah to her feet. She squirmed away, shocked, and the eyeless sockets followed her movement. He pressed on, nonplussed.

"Are you tired?" Because you been runnin' through my mind all day long."

Still stiff with fear, it took Sarah a few seconds to realize the skeleton was hitting on her. She opened her mouth but he pressed one bony finger to her lips.

"Nice girls don't belong in a place like this."

"Like this?" she managed, trying to tear her eyes from the group of zombies. One grinned sharply and its lower jawbone came unhinged grotesquely.

"Don't you know about this place, sugar?" Pushing off a tree, he began to rotate his hips alarmingly, singing like a band leader straight out of the Swinging 30's. The chorus of cadavers, amazingly enough, began to repeat his words in the same swing style. The leering carcasses had turned into a decaying ensemble of Swing Kings and Queens.

They were so good that before she thought she should be afraid, she let herself be pulled into their swirling, rotting midst, forming a decomposing conga line. She placed her hands on the lead Skeleton's shoulders, and tried not to vomit when she felt the squishy hands from the dancer behind her as he held her waist.

Mind reeling and yet having a cautiously good time, Sarah went with the flow, mentally keeping track of all her body parts when she saw one zombie's leg go flying during an enthusiastic kick. In spite of her fear and queasiness, Sarah began to laugh with the rest of them. The Labyrinth dangerous? What was he thinking!

Suddenly the skeleton turned and grabbed her around the waist, lifting Sarah in his bony arms, letting her down, turning and twisting to the saxophone while leading her through wild and insane swing moves. Each time he picked her up, she held her breath, wondering if he would shatter, laughing at his sly bony grin.

Sarah joined in the music, shimmying around fallen gravestones and arms and legs that had detached during the corpses' wild dancing. She even saw a head lying against the base of a statue of the Grim Reaper, still singing even though it was decapitated, while the headless body stumbled around, sifting through the grass.

The dancing group repeated the chorus over and over again like a mantra, arms raised to the invisible heavens, feet kicking up the swirling mist and loose dirt.

Then, as suddenly as it started, the music and the dancing stopped. For a moment, Sarah didn't notice, so lost was she in swinging her hips and stomping her feet. Silence pressed down and she looked up.

"What?" she said nervously, not liking the hungry grins she saw.

_"Damnation,_ baby. Don't worry, after a few hundred years of being with us, you'll think it's groovy too," the skeleton purred, and took a step forward. The other corpses followed suit, the circle closing in on her one step at a time.

"B-but I don't understand! We were having fun and-" That was a lie, the truth of it was: she _did_ understand.

"That? That was just a little pre-dinner entertainment, Sarah, can you dig it?" Arms stretched out, hands began to reach for her. She had sickening feeling that she knew who was for dinner. One arm, already hanging precariously by a flap of skin, broke off and fell to the ground in a sickening, meaty thud. That's all it took for Sarah to start screaming like a fire bell. Hands grasped her, bony hands, strong hands, rotting hands, and hands missing fingers, squishy hands, turning her round and round as the decaying faces blurred into a merry-go-round of dead colors.

She shrieked and shrieked, waiting to feel the first of the rotten teeth to bite through her skin.

One second she was surrounded by them, the next a large black shadow leaped into the circle. A broad sweep of one gloved hand sent five corpses flying out of their shoes…and their feet too. Sarah clapped her hand over her mouth as the contents of her stomach threatened to expel itself at the sight of Jareth's gloved fist punching not into but through the cheek of a grinning zombie.

Three more piled onto his back from behind. Sarah screamed. One of the undead bit him, tearing through the gauze of his shirt; the sudden flow of red blood bright against the white of the silk. Roaring like an animal Jareth threw them off, their fragile and decaying bodies hitting the gravestones like rotten meat being thrown against the sidewalk. Lastly, he faced the lead Skeleton, the two beings circling each other like jackals over a bit of bone. Jareth's face was white as chalk, the bright red stain blooming down his arm.

_"She's ours," _the corpse hissed, all traces of the Swing King gone, _"she ventured into the Labyrinth willingly."_

"And I am taking her back."

"Over our dead body."

Despite his fading strength, Jareth's grin was cool, collected, and one hundred percent confident. In his palm was a crystal. "My sentiments exactly."

"You wouldn't." But the statement ended on a higher pitch.

"Wouldn't I? _Go. To. Hell,"_ Jareth told the Labyrinth, and threw the crystal ball at the Skeleton. Both it and the crystal shattered into a thousand pieces, and once again the forest was silent.

Sarah and Jareth sighed as a collective unit. He turned to face her, despair flooding his features. That burst of magic used to dispel the Labyrinth ate up all his remaining energy. Without a word, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed on the ground, the fog slowly creeping in once again to swallow him whole.

Grateful to be alive, she turned on her heel, ready to flee.

_You can't just leave him here like this._

Reason and responsibility turned her back around, the last flashes of freedom erased by reality. Sarah knelt over his fallen form. She could already hear Portia's enraged shriek when the Pixie saw what she was about to do to her handiwork. Sarah tore a wide strip of violet satin from her gown and tied it high and tight on the arm of the limp Goblin King, attempting to stop the blood flow.

She heard a rustling sound approaching, and quickly looked around for a weapon. Clutching a fallen tree branch in her scraped hands, she knew that there was no way she could beat an army of zombies out for flesh, but she wasn't about to go down without a fight. The sounds grew closer.

She tensed.

A massive shadow loomed over her, and she dropped the makeshift club in surprise.

"Ludo!"

Close on the tail of the hulking orange monster was Sir Didymus mounted atop a frantically sniffing Ambrocious. The shaggy sheepdog staggered in a wildly arcing line around the graveyard before bumping his nose on Sarah's shin. He looked up at her through thick fur and barked once, happy he completed his mission.

"Milady! We heard screams."

"We need to get out of here. Ludo…can you carry him? He's hurt."

Ludo picked up the Goblin King as easily as a child picking up a rag doll. Cradled in furry orange arms, vulnerable to the world, that's almost exactly what His Bedraggled Royalness looked like; your very own life size Goblin King toy, complete with accessories.

"Let's go home," Sarah said, shock spilling through her at how easily the phrase slipped out. Her thoughts were morbid on the trip back to the Goblin City.


	11. Nine

Once inside the confines of the Castle, Sarah's nursing instincts kicked in. Four years at the rank of "acting mother" for Toby, aka the master of disaster, had prepared her well for dealing with injuries. First she directed Ludo to lay the Goblin King down on a settee in his chambers and away from the prying eyes of the goblins, which were restless at the sight of their fallen leader.

Having dispatched Hoggle and Ludo for bandages and hot water, she bent to the not-so-calming task of stripping the patient of his torn cloak and shirt. The cape was a piece of cake but leaning over him for his gauzy tunic, long tendrils of her hair brushing his chest as it spilled over her shoulders, pushed images to her forebrain that were not very clinical.

Slowly she pulled the hem of his shirt from his trousers, revealing a flat, smooth belly the color of a peach. A blush spread like wildfire at the sight of the thin line of dark blond hair that ran from right below his navel into the waistband of his pants. She untied the stays of his shirt as quickly as possible, struggling to retain a hold on her impassivity and failing miserably. Unconscious, with his face relaxed in sleep, he seemed less the cruel beast that ordered her around, pushed her away, and manipulated her to the ends of the world. He actually seemed…well…quite the heroine's fantasy.

Sarah began to slide his shirt off his shoulders when his eyes opened, consciousness returning so fast that it was almost scary. She yelped as his good arm wrapped itself around her waist, the instinctive reaction to finding a beautiful woman with fire in her eyes leaning over him. It took less than a second to remember what happened, to feel the sharp sting of the bite, and he relaxed his grip. As she retreated to a safe distance he tried to sit up and winced.

Compassion set in. "No, don't do that," she advised, "you'll only-"

He growled at her, baring his teeth as he tried once again to sit up and extract himself from his shirt, which was halfway down his arms.

"If you'll just hold still," Sarah tried, her hand reaching out to help him. He shied away out of sheer stubbornness, his struggling only causing the tunic to twist tighter around him. Finally, tired of having her hands shoved away rudely, she stood up, walked to the back if the low couch he was on and attacked him from behind, yanking the tunic completely off and jostling his injured shoulder in the process.

He howled. _"That hurt!"_

She tossed his damaged shirt at his face and knelt at his feet again, trying to get an unobstructed look at his wound. "If you wouldn't struggle, it wouldn't hurt so much, even a child knows that."

"If you hadn't run away this never would have happened," he pointed out, laying the blame at her doorstep. Her hackles rose immediately.

"If _you_ hadn't attacked me, I wouldn't have run away!"

Jareth opened his mouth to argue, felt bad about yelling at her in the first place, and swallowed his angry words. Then he recalled what set him off in the first place.

"Well _YOU_ shouldn't have been in the West Wing!" he said triumphantly.

"And _YOU_ should learn to control your temper!"

They refused to look at each other, silently fuming.

"Are we interrupting something?" Hoggle's entrance wasn't an accident; he had been waiting outside with Sir Didymus, eavesdropping on the argument. When he heard Sarah remark hotly about His Majesty's temper, he had to grin.

Sarah took the washrags from the dwarf and silently faced the shirtless King. "This may hurt a bit," she said, and bent over the wound, cleaning it as best she can. She heard his sharp intake of breath and steeled herself to have him jerk his arm out of her gentle grasp. Amazingly enough, his muscles tightened but he let her tend to the injury regardless of the pain. Feeling decidedly and unnervingly intimate, she parted her lips to voice the thought that had been nagging her.

"By the way…thank you for saving my life." She darted her eyes to his face for the span of two seconds before focusing back on the bite. It was enough time to see the surprise on his exotic features. He didn't answer for such a long time that she was beginning to think he wasn't going to.

"Jareth," he said. She looked up at him in surprise.

"Wh-what?"

"My name. If you are to be here with us…I want you to use my name."

She offered him a tentative smile, flustered in her actions as he watched her dress his arm.

The Goblin King's name.

Indeed.

Sarah tried it out. "Thank you, Jareth."

"You're welcome." His voice was low, husky, and sent shivers down her spine.

Hoggle left the room surreptitiously, dragging a protesting Ludo behind. They intercepted Sir Didymus at the door before the fox could break the mood.

The dwarf tweaked the knight's nose, grinning. Things were definitely looking up.

"He never let _me_ call him Jareth."

* * *

"Normally I would crush you like a worm beneath my feet for waking me at this hour-"

Newt tensed as the ogre passed him by, casting a sour glance down at the cowering fuchsia imp.

"-but this is splendid news!"

The imp relaxed and his color dimmed to a dusky rose. He nodded enthusiastically. "Even the dwarf remarked at how well they were getting along!" he added.

Caliban paced around the confines of his dungeon lair, blotchy arms crossed over his massive chest and one talon tapping thoughtfully against his boil-ridden chin. Newt matched the ogre's stance, a webbed finger pressing occasionally against the area in the vicinity of where a chin should be.

"I want you to follow them wherever they go, but be sure you are NOT seen."

Newt's horned head bobbed up and down. "I can try to cause a little trouble! Make sure they don't stay together too long, yes?"

He didn't see the ogre's fist as it swooped low to the imp, smacking him against the moldy stone wall. His color ran the gamut of the spectrum as the stars caused by the impact faded from view.

"NO, you fool. Do not attempt to meddle in their interaction."

"B-but wh-what if they start to like each other?" Newt's eyes squeezed shut as he waited for the next blow.

Caliban bent over, his hairy palms flat against the gritty floor as two blood red eyes lowered to hover six inches from the imp. And at that range, Newt could see how easily he would fit into the ogre's mouth, lock stock and barrel…

"You stupid idiot. That's exactly what we want them to do." Caliban chuckled to himself at the thought, and soon the lower hallways of the Goblin Castle were overflowing with the din of an ogre's laughter. The horrible sound was followed by an audible splat, which was caused by a tiny imp's body being thrown out the door against a stone wall.

"Do not let them out of your sight," Caliban instructed, and then returned to bed.


	12. Ten

Perplexed with the new aspects of Jareth that were revealing themselves as his Goblin King masks were lifted, Sarah hesitantly agreed to dine with him. If they were truly going to get along and develop a new relationship outside of the roles of Heroine and Villain, they would both have to make an effort. But how could she ever consider him a friend when he had made a second attempt to steal away Toby?

The contradiction haunted her. ESPECIALLY when thinking of the word _'relationship'_ in context with Jareth caused fire to run through her veins and alarms to go off in her head. A healthy dose of lust was normal at her age but for _him_!

She stood in front of the faded mirror that hung in a corner of her. Since this was her first official…dinner…engagement…meeting…_whatever_…with Jareth after her disastrous escape attempt, she actually had made an endeavor to look nice. Portia, after threatening to clothe her in burlap and rags, eventually permitted Sarah to keep the other gowns as long as she promised not to run off and conga with any more zombies. It was a vow Sarah could make with no shred of insincerity.

She was in a green kind of mood, and the emerald dress was so rich and bright that she knew it would help boost her spirits. Unlike the other gowns, it ended at mid-calf and buttoned up the front instead of the back. Upon closer inspection, she saw that each button was inlaid with a tiny piece of jade. Although it's low V neckline and capped sleeves were a little risqué for a dinner, the ensemble came with a knee length jacket in a darker green, which toned down the fitted dress. Sarah could tell that the pointed collar was inspired by the Goblin King's wardrobe. Her hair was in loose curls pinned to the top of her head and her feet were encased in a pair of black leather slip-ons. Sarah felt she at least she looked the part of Jareth's dinner date, even if she didn't feel like it.

It was hard to get over the Jareth from her past, the one who connived and cajoled and promised her the world in order to distract her from the Labyrinth. First impressions were always the most lasting, but if she learned anything from that time, it was that appearances were always deceiving. The Goblin King who had lashed out at her when she invaded his privacy had frightened her, but the man who had come to her rescue, who had been injured because of her and who had tenderly accepted her apology…they were all like pieces to a jigsaw puzzle she didn't have directions for, and she couldn't see what the entire picture was supposed to look like yet.

Her initial intuition of not knowing how to speak to him when they weren't fighting was correct, and up until now their passing conversations consisted entirely of small talk. This dinner had her worried.

When she walked into the Banquet Hall, she saw her fears were for naught. In fact, she had to cough suddenly to suppress the shocked giggles that threatened to surface.

A well used and much abused banquet table sat in the center of the hall and spanned the length of the room. It had gouge marks, food stains, and she felt that just looking at it was enough to give her splinters. And there was Jareth, dressed to the nines in a cream tunic with ruffles at his throat, brown leather pants with darker brown boots and a modest hunter green waistcoat, looking as out of place sitting at the dilapidated table as the King of England at a bowling alley. That was the first thing that struck her as comical.

The second was that her table setting, the only other one laid out, had been placed at the opposite end of the table, some two hundred feet away from him.

"You have got to be joking," she muttered.

He rose, languidly drifting towards her as elegantly and sleekly as a feline, causing her breath to catch in her throat. His eyes never left hers.

"I see Portia has outdone herself," he remarked, formally taking Sarah's limp hand in his glove and pressing a chaste kiss just below her knuckle. She offered him a shaky smile in return.

"Thank you. Or rather, thank her, I think she likes the praise." _That's it, Sarah, keep it niiiiice and light._

With that, Jareth escorted her to her high-backed chair. So far so good. Once seated, he strolled back toward his place.

An army of Goblins, under strict orders of obedience and the fear of reprisal, served the first course; a brown stew of unidentified origins. The second the food was on the table they scuttled back to the kitchen where they could gossip.

Sarah and Jareth ate in uncomfortable silence, secluded because of the distance and yet not alone in the vast Banquet Hall. After two more courses, Sarah set down her fork none too gently. It echoed like a sonic boom, reverberating against the stone walls.

"Was the soup too hot?" He spoke with forceful projection, a necessity after decades of attempting to be heard over the chatter of Goblins.

"NO!" she yelled, feeling like an idiot.

"The cook really outdid itself this time!"

"YES!" Now it was just getting ridiculous.

"Would you like some wine?"

Vexed, she sighed. Years of silent formal dinners stared her in the face. Even though the thought of holding a serious conversation with him was unnerving, the uncomfortable tension caused by distance was worse. Picking up her silverware, wine goblet and plate, she stalked her way down the length of the table and before he could say a word, plopped down onto the bench to his left.

"Yes, I would like some wine." Without waiting to be served, she poured herself a glass.

She knew he was looking at her like she had just eaten a bug, so she stared fixedly at the remainder of the over-steamed vegetables on her plate. Why did it have to be so awkward? Her own family dinners at home had been one long barrage of nonstop chatter, flowing smoothly from her father to her to Toby, who always had something to say no matter what the subject matter. Then, afterwards, everyone pitched in to clean up, lingering in the kitchen because they didn't want their conversation to end.

The thought of home brought the sting of tears to her eyes.

"What is the matter?" he asked cautiously.

She clenched her teeth at the voice of the man who had stolen her away from her home. Her family. No matter what he ever said or did, how could she forget that?

"Sarah," he tried again to start a conversation, "…are you happy here?"

That was it. He crossed the line.

"Of COURSE I'm not happy here," she exploded, sending her wine glass crashing to the floor. "I miss my family, I miss my home, and thanks to you my dad thinks I abandoned him just like the rest of them!" It was too late to hide her tears but that was okay, they fueled her fire.

Jareth looked taken aback at her outburst, and the cool and calculated Goblin King mask slipped quickly into place. "I was only being polite. There is no need to shout."

"No need? NO NEED! You put me in a room so far away from everyone I have to scream to get help, you sit me two miles away at the dinner table and thanks to you I can never hug my family again. _And all you can say is THERE'S NO NEED TO SHOUT!_"

Her anger was like a net, it drew him in.

"Do not blame me for your brother's carelessness. It is not my fault he said the words. I would think you should be blaming him, not me," Jareth told her coldly.

Sarah's jaw dropped and she stood abruptly. "You are unbelievable. You DARE sit there and lay the blame at Toby's door when you're the one who gave him the book in the first place."

The look of pure surprise and his response caused the bones in her legs to dissolve; she sat down with a hard 'THUMP.'

"…what book?" he said slowly.

* * *

Hoggle was making a futile attempt at watering the plants in the castle's greenhouse, which was more like a study in dying plant life when two shadows fell over him. He turned with a smile on his face. When he saw who it was, however, the smile slipped off and shattered on the cobblestone floor. Judging by the look of fury on their faces, he knew he had been found out.

Sarah knelt down so she was eye to eye with the dwarf.

"_Why_? _Why_ would you_ do_ such a thing?" Sarah choked out, clutching the culprit of her misery in her hands so hard the words _'The Labyrinth'_ were almost illegible.

"Why did I do what?" he tried lamely, cursing his cowardice.

She laughed bitterly, a horrible sound coming from her. "Don't play dumb with me. Don't you _dare_. Why did you give Toby this book?"

Hoggle set the watering can down carefully, buying time before he responded. One glance into the Goblin King's stony face let him know exactly what would be done to him if he divulged anything about the curse. Fear and lingering spinelessness caused him to shrug his shoulders in shame.

"I was being selfish. I wanted you to visit more often but you never would and…I…guess I just got tired of being put off." He kept fingering the plastic bracelet on his wrist, hoping it would give him the courage to lie to her.

Her face crumbled, tears spilling freely down her cheeks. The look of betrayal was so raw that Hoggle had to look away, tears on his own face. She was his best friend and now she would hate him forever.

Without another word she stood, letting the book slip from her numb fingers. Jareth placed a hand at the small of her back and gently led her away from the miserable dwarf. The Goblin King paused in the doorway, one hand on the doorknob and his face mostly obscured by shadows. Making sure Sarah was out of earshot, he turned back to Hoggle.

"It was not your place to interfere," Jareth hissed. "Do not think I don't know what you were up to_,"_ he intoned ominously, "and if you let _her _know, you will rule the Land of Stench for all eternity," he finished, and pulled the door shut firmly.


	13. Eleven

From the seclusion of his private balcony, Jareth watched Sarah as she strolled through the cobblestone streets of the Goblin City with Ludo and Ambrocious as her chaperones. A wee goblin scampered up to her with a handful of dead flowers and he looked on as she accepted them graciously and patted the child on its head. Even though the stems were obviously beyond hope, Sarah kept them close to her, as if they were a handful of precious stones. She was attempting to adjust to her new life.

Jareth turned to Sir Didymus.

"I want her to be happy here."

"Perhaps you might offer her a token of your esteem, Your Majesty," the fox offered.

Spiky strands of golden hair swayed as the Goblin King shook his head back and forth. "I've already turned the world upside down and offered her dreams; what more can she want?"

Didymus cleared his throat. "If I may?"

Jareth nodded.

"Sarah has grown up. She won't be won with childish flights of fancy; it must be something…" Sir Didymus searched for the right word "…meaningful," he finished.

Jareth's mismatched eyes were drawn once again to the woman who was so out of place in the Goblin City, yet at the same time fit in perfectly. Her raven hair hung in loose curls that cascaded down the back of her dark blue gown, and her face was turned up towards the dim red sun. She was looking at an antiquated and crumbling Goblin statue, laughing in delight. He caught sight of her profile, so smooth and delicate, the outline of her smile apparent even from a distance.

If he forgot that Sarah was no longer a child, the image of her silhouetted against the low hanging sun drove the reminder home like a stake through the chest. He had a sudden vision of Sarah beneath him in a sea of silk, arms outstretched and lips curving into the same smile he saw on her now, only having it directed totally at him…the thought caused his stomach to drop and his heart to tighten.

"Something meaningful," he mused.

A voice from inside the shadows interrupted them. "What about her art?"

The Goblin King and the fox turned as one, startled, as Caliban partially emerged from the shadows and took a half step outside. The fox growled softly. In the light, the ogre looked even more horrible. He held up one oozing hand to block the glare from his dark eyes.

"She likes to draw, to paint," the ogre suggested. "Perhaps she might like her own area in the Castle for her art?"

Jareth's face bloomed at the idea. It was perfect. He clapped his misshapen Councilor on a scaly shoulder and the two walked inside to begin plans. Sir Didymus remained outside.

Caliban had never made one suggestion or given one piece of advice in his entire existence that did not wind up benefiting him in some way. "What're you up to?" the knight muttered.

* * *

Enveloped in darkness and trusting Jareth as he led her through echoing hallways was something Sarah never imagined she would be doing in a million years. He was brimming with excitement though, and the smile on his face had been so genuine that she had let him tie a silk blindfold over her eyes so he could properly escort her to the surprise.

She needed a bit of cheering up and besides, his anticipation was catching. Well, that and the fact that his gloved hand wrapped tightly and comfortingly around hers was sending little sparks of electricity throughout her body.

"Can't I take this off now?" They had stopped, and his hand withdrew from hers.

"Not yet. I told you, I want this to be a surprise."

Sarah bit her lower lip to conceal a grin, and one dark eyebrow arched above the blindfold. She heard a door latch turn, and the creak of hinges. Once again his hand slipped into hers, their fingers interlacing easily and naturally. He drew her forward. Immediately she was assaulted with familiar smells…but wasn't able to place them.

"Now?"

"Impatient girl," he chided, tweaking her nose, "not yet!"

He moved away, and she could hear the rustle of fabric. The darkness around her grew a tad brighter, as if he had opened curtains to let the sun in. She couldn't hide her smile.

"Now?"

She felt him loosening the knot at her nape, his energy rolling down her spine like a physical being. The blindfold loosened.

"Okay…now," he said, and slid the silk away from her eyes.

Immediately she gasped, a hand fluttering up toward her mouth, changing its mind, and then settling against the base of her throat in amazement.

Golden sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the twenty easels that stood guard over hundreds of pristine canvases, all waiting for an artist. Tall tables, regular tables and low tables were placed casually around the room, piled high with every medium on the face of the earth, oil paints, watercolors, charcoal, pencils, inks, acrylics, woodblocks, stained glass, beads, and brushes that ranged in width from the size of a Hoover vacuum cleaner to the size of a pin head. In addition, stacked neatly along one wall were homemade sketch books; two pieces of light shale wrapped in cotton with pieces of vellum and parchment sandwiched between. Everything she would ever need; a small platform with candles placed strategically around it for a model to pose from, and drop cloths in perfect rolls swinging from a hammock that was suspended from the cathedral ceiling.

Tears glistened in her eyes as she walked slowly around the room.

"I don't believe it…I've never seen so much…in my whole life!" she said, awed.

Jareth saw the mixture of tears and happiness on her face and smiled nervously.

"Does this please you?"

She beamed at him over her shoulder. "Yes, oh yes!"

"Then it is yours," he said.

No one had ever given her something so wonderful, so perfect for her that Sarah rushed to him, taking his hands in hers and without thinking, rose on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you, thank you so much, Jareth!"

In surprise, he turned his head slightly towards her, and she was so overwhelmed with joy that she didn't notice; in the span of one second it was no longer his cheek under her mouth, it was his lips. They barely grazed hers before they both jerked back, as if burned by a hot poker. Sarah lowered her head, blushing furiously and unable to meet his eyes. One gloved hang rose to cup her chin, and lift her face to him. He was as cool and refined as ever, didn't hint at the implied intimacy they almost shared.

"You're welcome, Sarah."

Standing unnoticed in the doorway, Sir Didymus, Ludo and Portia exchanged satisfied grins. From the vicinity of Ludo's massive tail came the voice of Hoggle, who had taken to hiding himself lest the sight of him cause an upset for Sarah.

"That's very encouraging!" the dwarf said.

"I say, it's because of all those pointers we've given!" from the fox.

Portia snorted. "If she thinks she's gonna paint in the gowns I made her, she has another thing coming.


	14. Twelve

Meals were still served in the immense banquet hall, but now Sarah and Jareth were joined by the rabble of giggling Goblins. At first she was pleased with the chatter and camaraderie, until the food was actually served. Then all hell broke loose.

Surprised, she watched as goblins scattered to and fro across the table, even through the food leaving mashed potato footprints everywhere. She turned to Jareth, who sat there nonplussed, King of the chaos that reigned in the banquet hall.

Jareth saw her jaw drop, and saw the shock and disgust in her eyes. He turned back to the Goblins. One of them was using his shoe to drink soup. He sighed inwardly and then cleared his throat.

"Attention." He wasn't heard over the din. Out came a crystal ball which rose over the table, to the rafters of the hall before exploding, sending a shower of sparks on the dinner party. Everyone stopped to look at him.

Silently, he picked up a spoon, and waited for all the goblins to do so. Half of them picked up their forks, and he shook his head once, waiting until everyone had it right. He glanced at Sarah, and saw the relief in her eyes. She picked up her spoon and began to eat the soup daintily.

The peace didn't last long. She had no idea how but half of the Goblins managed to stab themselves with their spoons, but they did. Meanwhile, the other half accidentally spilled the hot soup down their trousers. Jareth looked pained.

Quickly seeing a compromise, Sarah dropped her spoon on the floor and used both hands to pick up her bowl, holding it in the air. She met his unbalanced eyes over the rim as she drank the soup directly from the bowl. It was easy, and reminded her of her childhood; getting the last dregs of milk from Cocoa Crispies cereal in the mornings. Following her example, the Goblin King held his soup bowl high. The Goblins, eager to please, matched his actions.

"Cheers!" they roared, and toasted each other with soup.

Sarah put the bowl down, wiping her mouth with a napkin. She belched. A look of horror crossed her face but the goblins loved it; their sides split with laughter. She glanced at Jareth, who threatened to break into a smile at any second. Like tears, silliness was catching and soon Sarah and the Goblin King were laughing right along with them.

"Okay, does everyone understand the rules?"

Although Sir Didymus, Ludo and Jareth nodded their heads in agreement, the handful of Goblins who had wanted to play freeze tag stared at her in confusion. Sarah sighed and stooped down to their eye level.

"Don't let him," she pointed to Ludo, "catch you. Okay? Run away as fast as you can."

Now they nodded, giggling and drooling.

As Ludo counted to ten, hiding his eyes behind his massive paws, the other players scattered over the ranges of perspectives in the Escher room. Sir Didymus and Ambrocious galloped up the wall and around a corner while the goblins opted to shift to the underside of the landing everyone was standing on before spreading out.

"Four….five….siiiiiiiix…"

Sarah and Jareth grinned and took off up a flight of stairs. The last step ended in mid-air, and Sarah paused at the edge.

"You remember what I taught you?" he asked her.

Sarah nodded, and slipped her hand into his. "Just keep walking. Got it."

"Ten!" Ludo finished, his hands dropping from his eyes. He looked up and saw the two at the stop of the stairs, and lumbered after them.

Sarah closed her eyes and stepped forward off the top stair. The trick was to not jump; just put one foot in front of the other as if everything was normal. She felt the world turn upside down and when she opened her eyes, it had. They were on the bottom side of the stairs they had just raced up, leaving a confused Ludo to scratch his head once he reached the top. The monster was not as deft at changing perspectives as the other players. Sarah and Jareth ran down the stairs right beneath him and moved in separate directions at a stone arch. The Goblin King went through the archway; Sarah walked above it.

They played for hours. Everyone was a lot harder to catch than they looked; just because the Goblins didn't have a lot of brains didn't mean they weren't fast on their legs. And Ludo was large but he had the very rocks on his side, he could make steps and ledges vanish behind him, confounding his pursuer. Sir Didymus and Ambrocious were like little balls of furry lightning and Jareth, well, he was in his element. Sarah found herself being stuck as "it" frequently but it didn't matter; she was having a ball skipping from floor to wall to ceiling as easy as strolling down her old street.

She leaned against the wall for a moment, out of breath after chasing a pair of goblins for a good ten minutes. At first she thought there was only one but after they pointed and laughed at her from a flight of stairs that jutted out from a wall, she realized they were identical twins who were leading her on a wild goose chase.

She sensed movement above her, and felt the warm energy of magic. Her eyes rose and there, less than four feet away, the Goblin King stood on the ledge directly above her head. Even though she was used to the effects of the Escher room, it was still a blow to her equilibrium.

"Had enough?" he inquired innocently.

"Never." She tried to jump up to tag him, arms flailing, but he managed to duck out of reach. She finally gave up, hands on hips and eyeing him in exasperation.

"You know the view from up here is quite…spectacular." His eyes flickered a few inches south of her rosy face. She followed his gaze and gasped; the particular gown she was wearing was lightweight for playing in but also very low cut. He was looking right down her bodice at the swells of her breasts! Her face rose once again to his, this time flushed with mortified indignance.

"You!" Closing her eyes, she ran straight at the wall, and then suddenly she was running up it. He led her on a merry chase, and for once she was able to match him perspective for perspective, sliding easily from floor to wall to ceiling as she attempted to remain hot on his tail. She raced down a flight of stairs and through a doorway, and instead of finding Jareth she bumped headlong into Hoggle.

They fell in a pile of arms and legs and water; he had been carrying his watering can to the greenhouse. He let out a loud groan and rubbed his head, picking at his drenched clothes.

"Why don't you watch where you're going!" he growled.

Sarah rolled over with a moan and shook her head. Her eyes slowly focused on the dwarf.

"Oh. Its you." Hoggle immediately went from outraged to disgraced, and bent to gather his dented watering can and small cap so he could scurry off without further confrontation.

Sarah remained silent for a moment, torn between her bitterness and genuine concern for her friend; he looked horrible.

_/no I ain't, I'm Hoggle/_

He looked thinner, and more wizened than before. Also like he hadn't slept in days.

"I was just passing through, I'll be leaving now."

She stood at a crossroads and knew she only had a few seconds to decide before Hoggle walked away. If she kept her mouth shut like her stubbornness wanted her to, she would be walking down a path of bottled up anger and resentment for the rest of her life. As much as she missed her family…that was no way to live. She wouldn't…couldn't live like that.

"Hoggle?"

He paused, turning around no hope in his eyes. It was obvious he was expecting, waiting to bear the burden of her bitterness.

She stood, brushing her dusty gown off and making a mental note to get some proper play clothes before Portia outright murdered her.

"Wanna play tag?"


	15. Thirteen

Time went by; lazy days spent touring the Goblin City, or spending a quiet evening by the fireside sketching a brood of goblins as they laughed and gibbered and caroused. And usually, lurking somewhere around the edges of her vision was Jareth. His presence was something she had grown used to, even looked forward to from the moment she first opened her eyes in the morning. It had gotten to the point where she was actually flustered if he WASN'T around; but regardless of whether or not he was nearby physically, he was always hiding out in her thoughts.

_Especially_ today. She had decided it was time to take her sketches and actually put them to paint, but when she arrived in her studio, fresh doodles in hand, Sarah found her inspiration was dissolving. It wasn't for lack of her new digs either; she had finally convinced Portia that it was not necessary to make her new clothes when all she was going to do was splash paint on them. Rifling through old trunks stuffed into the corner of a forgotten room revealed buried treasure that she now sported with ease: a pair of well worn brown cutoff trousers, a discarded gauze tunic that had yellowed with age and a black vest that was missing two buttons made her look like a Bohemian Goblinish artist.

Knowing the mood would creep up on her, she decided to start small, with a little sketch of a trio of goblins eating a pot pie. Their bug-eyed expressions of delight and their inability to grasp the concept of silverware had set her laughing one night at dinner. Once she started, as usual Sarah lost all track of time. The sun arced across the sky slowly, sending the shadows pivoting throughout the room. Eventually it had become stifling in the room even with the open arches that allowed breeze to pass through. Not wanting to leave, Sarah took off the vest and shed the oversized tunic, preferring to work in her camisole. She put the vest back on for decency, as the undershirt was strictly that: something to go under a gown to provide support but not coverage. Sarah bent back over her work, shutting out the Underground until she heard someone clear their throat.

Jareth was leaning in the doorway, looking like he had stepped out of a romance novel. He was so beautiful in his lean-hipped gracefulness it made her chest ache. The only two things she could think of to do were drool or smile. She chose the latter.

"What is so amusing?"

Sarah shook her head, tucking strands of hair that had escaped her makeshift bun behind her ear. "Not important. What are you doing here?"

He produced a tin plate of fruits from behind his back. At the sight she felt her mouth begin to water. There went her resolve not to drool. Wiping her dusty fingers on her pants, she pored over the selection. Looking up into his eyes, with a wry grin she selected a peach and bit into it with relish, its juices running down her chin.

He stared, transfixed."When you missed breakfast and lunch, Hoggle thought you might be up here." He leaned towards her ever so slightly. "I see he was right."

Needing distance and still munching on the peach, Sarah walked back to her layout of various sketches. "When I get going, I always lose track of time. Tell him thank you."

"And nothing for my pains?"

"Pains?"

"It took forever to find just…the right…peach."

Again, that knot in her stomach. "Thank you, Jareth," she said politely. Even though the room was warm, her skin began to break out in Goosebumps as he approached. With an inward shiver she realized this was the first time they had actually been alone together; no goblins or random castle creatures about underfoot. He peered over her shoulder.

"Your drawings…they're quite good." The charcoal caricatures of goblins were very comical and true to form. His eyes skimmed over a drawing of Ludo playing nursemaid to a handful of pebbles, of Sir Didymus atop Ambrocious and of Hoggle tending the greenhouse before they fell on a very rough sketch of a very familiar face. _How had she managed to draw him without him noticing?_

She saw what he was looking at and hastily started to pick up the sheets of parchment, stacking them haphazardly together."They're just doodles of course, none of them are finished yet and I'm still working on figuring out the oil paints and-" She was babbling, trying to cover up her embarrassment. Of course, why there was embarrassment in the first place only made the situation even more embarrassing and-

He placed a gentle hand on her arm, stilling her. "You are a fine artist, Sarah."

She blushed under his scrutiny, reverting from a fairly knowledgeable twenty something to a stargazing teenager old who had the attention of the man of her dreams. Only for a second, though, and then her natural confidence kicked in. She smiled brightly."Thank you."

He moved away, not trusting himself to maintain control when she smiled at him like that and unwilling to push her too fast. He paced the room, studying objects silently."I wonder if I might ask you a favor."

"Sure."

"I would like to commission a portrait."

Sarah laughed. "You don't have to commission anything; you're the one who gave me all of this."

"You won't do it?"

"No," she explained, "I mean you don't have to pay me. I'd be happy to do a portrait for you."

He smiled. "Excellent."

Rifling through her sketches, Sarah tried to pick out the one that would be most appropriate for an oil painting worthy of the Goblin King. "Was there one in particular you were interested in?"

"Actually, I would like you to paint _me._"

Oh, she thought.

"Okay," she said slowly. "We can do that. Did you have anything in mind?"

He cocked his head to the side. "In this matter I would have to bow before your expertise. What do you think would look good?"

_/you naked in bed wearing me as a blanket/_

Whoa. If she wasn't careful, she would need to start having Portia hang around her to censor any X rated thoughts that flickered through her mind."Well…let's see," she pointed to the platform, "stand over there." He followed her instructions and Sarah stood before him on the floor, arms crossed, looking up at him with her artist's eye. She noted the light, the texture and the general lines of his stance critically. She was surveying him so intently that Jareth felt the need to plant his hands on his hips, slipping on the mask of the Goblin King.

"No, don't do that," she said immediately. "Just…act natural."

"Like this?" he asked, smiling playfully. He leaned against the wall, crossing his legs and sliding his hands gracefully into the pockets of his leather waistcoat. In an instant he went from the Goblin King to sullen boy.

She gave him an exasperated sigh. "Do you really want to have your portrait painted looking like James Dean?"

"Who?"

Sarah sighed. "Just…here. Stand like this." She stepped onto the platform and planted her feet shoulder's width apart, tilting her body slightly away from the rest of the room; a picture of easy defiance. She waited until he moved next to her, mirroring her stance perfectly."Do you have a crystal ball?"

One elegant eyebrow arched. He twisted his wrist and a perfect crystal was suddenly resting in his palm. She turned, facing him. "This may sound dumb, but one of the strongest images I have of you is when you…" she trailed off, flushing slightly at the memory of Jareth, pale and delicate begging her to be his slave. "Well, you know, you were there. I think it would be a very powerful pose for your portrait."

"If that is how you think it should be done, then that is how we shall do it."

"Good." She jumped off the platform and backed up to where a fresh canvas stood, mounted on an easel. "Hold up the crystal, like you want me to have it." With a sly grin, he raised his arm; crystal perched innocently atop his cupped fingers as his eyes glittered with an unspoken desire. With his one eyebrow arched in amusement over a silver-shadowed eye and his lips curved upwards in a confident show of arrogance, he looked like he had seven years ago. In fact, he looked exactly the same, as if he hadn't aged a day. His alien beauty and silent charm were like a blow to her stomach.

_/I ask for so little/_

"H-hold it," she whispered, "don't move." Sarah blindly reached for her charcoals with a shaking hand, unwilling to tear her eyes from him for one second. Tip of the charcoal pencil to canvas, she bent to her to simply watch her work, Jareth remained silent. Normally by now his goblins would have been swarming up the walls; they liked to be where the action was. However, he had given them strict instructions to keep away from Sarah while she was working, and they knew better than to risk his wrath. All in all, the comfortable silence was a pleasant change from the usual chaos.

She was partially obscured by the canvas, but he could still observe her arms, bare and golden in the afternoon sunlight. Her amusing little outfit was shocking at first glance; he was used to seeing her in elegant dresses. As he watched her step back from her work, eye it critically for a second and then dig through a pile of brushes at the back of the room, he had to admit that the trousers were almost more appealing than Portia's gowns. They were too short, so they ended at her calves, and also hugged the curve of her bottom like a second skin. They sat low on her waist and showed a small strip of skin between the hem of her camisole and the waistband of the pants. Once he started thinking of her camisole he couldn't stop; she should know better than to run around in her underwear. It covered almost nothing, and the tight little black vest she was wearing covered just enough to put his imagination into overdrive. He felt a tightening at his groin and immediately switched trains of thought to something that would not assist his body in creating a scandal. Caliban. That was better; thoughts of the ogre immediately scoured away the desire that had begun to grip him.

If the truth must be told, Jareth felt that most of the blame for the predicament he and his subjects were in was because of his Royal Councilor's staunch advice. No mercy, no generosity and no weakness; that was what would make Jareth a ruler. And look what happened when he followed that motto: a sorceress just happened by and decided to teach him a lesson. A much-needed and well deserved lesson, he knew that now.

Caliban had fallen from grace, and for decades did not emerge from his dungeon lair. It was no secret that he wanted to conquer the Labyrinth but Jareth, as the Underground's wayward master, knew better than to attempt to tame that beast. Old friendships were hard to break and although he hadn't trusted Caliban in a long time, his advice lately about Sarah had proven to be invaluable. Maybe the old man/ogre had finally come to see the light…

Sarah stretched, drawing Jareth's attention away from his thoughts. Arms over her head and her back arching gracefully, she all but took his breath away. "It's getting too dark for me to do this properly."

"I could light some candles."

She shook her head. "No, that would change the lighting and my colors would be all wrong. I think we should quit for tonight."

He released the crystal orb and watched it float out the window before jumping down off the platform. Sarah was bent over a water bucket, cleaning her brushes and so she didn't notice him coming to a halt in front of her easel before it was too late.She was a very _very_ modest painter when it came to full-on portraits but even she knew she had caught his essence perfectly. It wasn't that hard; in the back of her mind she had thousands of images of him stored neatly away and labeled as wishful thinking. She had decided to portray him from the waist up in front of a starry night sky. It was still in its beginning stages, and only a few strokes of color had been added so she could plan her palette, but it was still powerful. It was him; the Goblin King.

Sarah nervously waited for him to comment, and when he didn't she grew even more nervous. She watched him raise a hand toward the canvas, hesitate, and then lower back down.

"Well?" she finally asked.

He turned to her, looking down with such warmth that she felt she might burst into flames. "I lied. You are not a fine artist."

Her hopes crashed.

"You are a true master."

And then soared back up to new heights.

She smiled and resisted the urge to stammer. "That's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me."

"Of course, it's not _quite_ as beautiful as the artist herself, but then again, not many things are," he said huskily.

Her grip on the paintbrushes tightened painfully. What was wrong with her, men had paid her compliments before! Oh, who was she kidding, none of them could hold a candle to the exotic beauty of the Goblin King. Unfortunately, though, her sexual prowess was almost nonexistent, and so she couldn't seem to speak past the lump in her throat. She stilled, still clutching the brushes as he stepped toward her, closing the distance between them. He smoothed loose tendrils of hair away from her eyes, suddenly not caring that he could be risking the fate of his kingdom. He had to kiss her or else he would die. He leaned down, watching her eyes close, dark eyelashes like charcoal fringe against her cheeks. His lips hovered over hers. For one shining moment their minds touched and they shared the exact same thought.

_/I've been waiting a long time for this/_

…That's when a bucketful of wet something splashed over them in a cold wave. Sarah gasped, brushes clattering to the floor. Once she cleared the water from her eyes, she looked around. And realized it wasn't water that was dripping down her chest.It was yellow paint.

_"Goblins,"_ Jareth hissed, slicking his paint-streaked hair back from his eyes. Looking down at himself, it appeared like someone dipped him sideways into canary yellow paint. He seemed to have gotten the brunt of it; Sarah's face and upper body was splattered with it but not drenched.

"My sketches!"

Paint had nearly obliterated a few of the simple drawings she had strewn around the workbench. Frustrated, she tried wiping the paint off the charcoal doodles but only succeeded in smearing it around. Finally, she gave up.

"Who did this?"

Jareth's eyes narrowed and his Goblin King mask slipped into place. "Whoever it was is going to be very, VERY sorry." He stalked out of the room, leaving a trail of bright footprints in his wake.A thorough interrogation of the Goblins revealed nothing. It would do no good to punish them all as they were all telling the truth, so Jareth decided to bide his time. In the meantime, a thorough cleansing was very much in order.

"…and then, SPLAT! The paint got ALL over them and he left pretty ticked off. I did good, right boss?" Newt sucked in a deep breath after recalling the entire afternoon's fiasco to Caliban.

"I specifically remember telling you NOT to interfere," the ogre began and Newt braced himself for a blow, "but I must admit the paint bit was perfect, I could not have done it better MYSELF!"

Caliban roared with laughter. "The High and Mighty Goblin King and poor, sweet Sarah covered in paint," the ogre clapped his knees, "That must have been priceless!"

"Priceless, it sure was," Newt agreed, basking in his moment of glory.

"So they were about to kiss, is that right?"

"That's right, I was right there sitting on a ceiling beam. There they were, about to do it and then WHAM! They never saw it coming."

"Excellent, you did very well Newt."

"Should I follow them some more? I can make sure they NEVER kiss! I have a piece of cod I can whack them with next," next said excitedly, smacking one tiny fist into his other palm.

"No. No, the time is right to set the stage for my final move." Blood red eyes began to glow. "And then…the Underground will be mine."


	16. Fourteen

Hoggle and Sir Didymus hovered near the bronze bathtub, watching anxiously as Jareth scrubbed the last of the yellow paint from his hair.

"Tonight is the night!" Sir Didymus was in the middle of a rousing pep talk, but the Goblin King was hardly taking notice. Too much was at stake.

"You must make sure everything is in place." Jareth took a pitcher of clean hot water and poured it over his head, rinsing the soap away. "Candlelight?"

"Caliban is working on it right now," Hoggle said. Even though all his instincts still screamed to not trust him, the ogre had actually been very helpful in planning the evening's seduction.

"And dinner?"

"Is set up exactly where you told us to, it's waiting for your inspection."

"Excellent." Jareth stood, twisting his hair in his fist to squeeze out excess water, shivering as an unexpected breeze flowed through the window. He wrapped a fresh piece of linen around his waist and clapped his hands, finally allowing Portia to enter his private bathchambers.

"It's not like I haven't seen it before," she huffed, and then zipped in behind him, the ball of golden light obviously staring at him in the mirror. "I changed your diapers you know."

"I do not need assistance in dressing myself," he said arrogantly, one eyebrow arched.

"Stuff it, Your Majesty. Tonight is a special night."

Hoggle and Sir Didymus exchanged a wry glance that did not go unnoticed.

"So I have been told."

"Everything is ready for your approval, Your Highness," Hoggle assured. "Candles, romantic music, dinner, even the night sky is shaping up to be on our side. Lots of stars." The dwarf winked.

Jareth stared at his bare hands, which were braced against his thighs. "I don't know if I can do this," he muttered to himself. Sir Didymus's canine ears perked.

"You must. Do you not care for the Lady?"

Jareth met his own eyes in the mirror. He thought of Sarah, so strong and wise for someone so young and so far from home. He remembered the playful little girl he had seen years ago, and was proud of the beautiful woman she had become. "More than anything," he said softly.

Hoggle touched his arm, a gesture of wisdom and kindness. "And tonight you will tell her."

"All right boys, enough chit chat." Portia's amber light began to burn brighter. "It's time for the Master to do her work."

* * *

Sarah remained in her room with Ludo trying to teach him the card game War while waiting for Portia, who had said two hours ago that she would be back in just a second. Normally she would have been off and searching but the Pixie had made her solemnly promise to stay in the room. 'Or else you won't get your surprise,' she had said. Still, two hours alone with her thoughts and anxieties about tonight's dinner was enough to put Sarah in a grumpy mood.

A knock at the door interrupted her explanation of declaring War to Ludo. She rushed to the door, hoping it was Jareth.

Once again, a garment bag whacked her right between the eyes as Portia blew past her carrying the surprise. Sarah rubbed her forehead.

"SO sorry that I'm late I got…caught up."

Sarah closed the door. "Well its not like I had anything to do today."

Portia read the sarcasm. She hovered directly in front of Sarah's eyes. "Don't take up that attitude with me missy, I've been slaving over this for days," she said hotly.

Two hours of waiting erased Sarah's patience. "Listen Tinkerbell-"

Ludo closed his fist over Portia before the Pixie could extract revenge. Sarah heard a muted tinkling and knew that Disney would have never allowed such language on screen.

"No fight."

Sarah calmed down. "All right Ludo. I won't fight."

Ludo brought his fist to his mouth and murmured, "No fight," against it. Sarah heard three sharp bell tones and nodded in understanding and agreement with the pixie.

"All right, Portia, I apologize. That was a mean thing to say."

The Pixie burst from the monster's fist in a small burst of lightning. "Well. Okay. At least you admitted you were wrong."

Sarah and Ludo wisely remained silent.

"Now, without further delay or COMMENT, we need to get you ready for dinner. Any arguments?"

Sarah shook her head, and let herself be led into the dressing room.


	17. Fifteen

Jareth waited for Sarah from the grand landing where the stairs from her room met the stairs from the West Wing. For the first time in seven years, he was dressed formally in a deep royal blue waistcoat that glittered in the candlelight. A stand up collar framed his face as well as the cream silk cravat that spilled ruffles down his chest. A sparkling sapphire was pinned at his throat. Trousers the color of midnight and knee high black leather boots completed his ensemble. One hand was bent stiffly behind his back, his fist resting against the small of his back, the other hanging loosely at his side. He stood at attention, a pose so ceremonial it felt unnatural to him after all these years…but he didn't know what else to do with himself.

The doors to the East Wing opened and suddenly she was there, smiling brilliantly and looking so beautiful it made his heart ache just to glance at her. She paused at the top of the stairs, eyes shining with a combination of excitement and nervousness. His formality slipping off his face, his eyes widened and he had to remember to breathe.

Her hair was pinned up off her neck and away from her face in wild raven curls. A few of them escaped and brushed against her rosy cheeks, her pale throat. She looked like a creature from a fable in a rose gold gown that left one shoulder bare. The thin fabric was gathered at the other shoulder and entwined with narrow scarves of beaded crystals that dripped down her back in a glittering waterfall. The various tiers of the floor length bell skirt were of different textures and shades of ivory that split and gathered on different sides to let glimpses of lace and legs through. Her eyes, lined with sapphire blue and glittering as she moved, met his. She was danger, she was desire; she was beauty.

An endless possibility of words ran through her mind at the sight of him, so cool and striking.

_/you look nice/_

/i dreamt about you last night/

/were you going to kiss me yesterday/

/i want you/

/i need you/

All she said was, "You managed to get the paint off I see."

He smiled and bowed. Not out of formality or civility but as a sign of respect between equals. Sarah bent her knees and dipped her head in a flawless curtsey. He took her arm in his and without another word, they ascended the stairs.

To her surprise, he led her away from the banquet hall, and she looked up at him, curious. A smile twitched along the corners of his mouth at the question in her eyes. He took her down unseen hallways, the dust of magic more prevalent in this area of the castle. Finally he halted in front of a pair of grand doors that stood thirty feet tall.

"Countless years ago, I locked these doors and no one, not one Goblin, not one gremlin or ghoul or monster or fairy has entered since. Until tonight. I…" he hesitated, suddenly nervous and unsure how to continue. "…I had chosen to forget this existed. Then you came, and reminded me that beauty…beauty can be found sometimes in the darkest of places."

"I don't understand."

His smile was frightened and knowing at the same time. Raising his hand, he knocked on the doors and they opened like magic, revealing another world within the Goblin Castle. Sarah gasped, her arm tightening around his.

It was a ballroom, but aside from majestic columns that stretched a hundred feet to the ceiling or the expansive marble floor that was inlaid with veins of pure gold, it was the fact that the room was in pristine condition…that was what rendered Sarah speechless. The exquisite ballroom looked like it belonged in Versailles, not in a dusty, unused corner of the Goblin Castle. Candlelight glowed from the numerous chandeliers that hung from the domed ceiling, where faux constellations were painted on cerulean tile. Floor to ceiling windows were flawlessly polished and looked out onto the night sky over the Labyrinth.

She turned to him, amazed. "How can this be here?"

He surveyed the room thoughtfully, tearing himself away from the stars in her eyes. He really had not been here since the curse had been placed; it was too painful to be reminded of the last remnants of his former privileged life when the rest of the castle had been reduced to shambles by careless Goblins.

"Magic," he finally said. This piece of his past was harder to resolve in his mind than he thought. It reminded him of what was at risk should he fail tonight. Funny, though, for the first time during his time as the Goblin King, he was actually feeling pangs of nervousness at the thought of seducing the woman at his side. Playing the mysterious and alluring Goblin King for young girls was one thing, but this…he had no idea how to approach her, how to share what he was feeling.

How he felt.

And there it was. The realization that it was no longer about breaking the curse…he loved her.

The knowledge filled him with unbelievable power and left his legs weak. He would have stood there until time fell apart, tasting was it was like to love. Sarah spoke, however, and broke the spell.

"Would you like to dance?"

Jareth shook his head once, clearing it. "Our dinner will get cold."

"Dinner can wait," she said firmly, and drew him farther into the ballroom. Once she led him to the center, where the stars looked down on them and the candlelight lent a golden edge to everything in the room, she gently placed one of his hands on her waist and stepped close enough to him, so close that she could smell his scent of spice and pure energy. The other hand she held lightly. It was the same as seven years ago and it also wasn't. The magic was still there, oh there was no question about that; the difference was there was no contest, they were not pitted against each other in battle. They were just a man and a woman, dancing under the stars.

"There's no music," he whispered, his grip tightening on her waist, drawing her closer.

Her eyes closed. "That's funny. Because I hear it."

He closed his eyes and he was standing in the darkness with Sarah by his side. Suddenly, he could hear the music too.

They began to move.

_/There's such a sad love, deep in your eyes, a kind of pale jewel/_

As he led her around the floor, their eyes opened and were filled with each other's image; they didn't notice the group peeking around the partially open door.

_"Do you see anything?"_

"Did she say it yet?"

"Say what?"

"Did she say she lo-"

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh!" Hoggle said fiercely, turning on the wayward group of Goblins who had deemed it appropriate to spy on the Goblin King. Eyes rolling wildly in their sockets, the lumpy green creatures clapped their hands…or paws…over their mouths…or muzzles, and backed away slowly, letting the antsy fox and the glaring dwarf through.

If Hoggle had been worried that the Goblins had broken the mood, he saw his fears would be misplaced. As he peered around the door, he watched the couple as they waltzed to phantom music, enraptured. He guessed all the windows could be broken by a flying meteor shower and they would still be dancing.

"He's doing splendidly," Sir Didymus said proudly.

Inside the grand ballroom, Sarah and Jareth spun around and around and then stilled.

Fingers interlaced, they walked through the balcony doors that led onto the stone terrace overlooking the giant maze garden. They sat on a stone bench that had hand-carved ornate legs. A breeze stirred the chiffon underskirts of her dress away from her knees and ruffled Jareth's loosely spiked golden locks. Sarah felt something building in the air, something between them, something important. She held out her palm and waited for him to give her his hand. He did so and she looked at it, studying its shape through the black leather.

"Can I…?" she asked suddenly, inspired. He remained silent, and she took that as an assent. Slowly, almost reverently, she loosened the cuff of his silk sleeve until she could slide down the one leather glove. At the sight of the pale skin of his wrist, Sarah felt her blood race through her veins. Having no initial purpose to the experiment, she wasn't sure what she was expecting as she slid the glove off his hand. It was a normal hand, five fingers; long fingers with perfectly clipped nails at the tips but strong fingers all the same. There was a find dusting of golden hair that tapered off at his wrist, and there were one, two, three prominent veins on the back of his hand. It was funny; she had never thought of hands as special. They had always been just hands…until now.

Neither one of them dared to breathe during her tender examination. When she released his hand, he slowly lowered it to rest against his thigh. He hesitated, not sure where to start, not sure of what the right words were that he needed to say. He remembered a question he had asked her weeks ago, and when he opened his mouth out it came again.

"Sarah, are you happy here?"

She opened her mouth to say yes right away, but one thought that had been rattling around in her head made her falter for just a moment. It was enough.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head, not wanting to spoil the mood but unwilling to lie about it. "It's only…I wish I could see my family again. I worry about my father and Toby all the time. I miss them so much," she admitted.

Anything for her. "There is a way," Jareth said softly, and when he raised his remaining gloved hand, a crystal rested in his cupped palm. "It can show you anything you wish to see."

She looked at him uncertainly. He placed the cool orb in her hand and nodded encouragingly. "I'd…I'd like to see my family. Please."

Immediately the crystal began to glow with an inner light, growing so bright that Sarah had to turn away. When it dimmed, she could see the inside of her house. She could hear Toby crying in the kitchen. The view panned through living room until she saw her father and a strange woman sitting in his office.

_'…if you cannot take care of your son then we will take care of him for you. This is your last warning Mr. Williams, one more call from the school and we will be forced to put Toby in a foster home-'_

Sarah gasped, tears filling her eyes. Her hands were shaking so bad that Jareth had to take the crystal from her lest it be dropped.

"What is it?" he asked, concerned.

For a minute, Sarah couldn't talk. Between sobs, she managed to relay what she had seen to Jareth. He put his arms around her and held her against his shoulder while she wept inconsolably. His heart was breaking but he knew there was only once choice to make.

"Then…then you must go back."

She sat up in surprise. "What did you say?"

His face twisting in loss and despair, Jareth turned away from her tears, standing and walking to the railing of the balcony.

"I release you. You are no longer my prisoner."

"I'm free?" she whispered, her hopes lifting.

"Yes."

She was so overwhelmed that she didn't notice his bowed head, his hands tightening on the hand-carved railing. "Oh thank you, thank you so much."

"Sarah?" he asked, and turned towards her. The Goblin King mask was solidly in place, and it was only an eternity of practice that kept it in place. He held up his hand, and in it was a crystal. He closed his fist around it, and when he opened his hand again a miniature crystal bauble in a silver setting on a delicate chain lay on his palm. He offered it to her.

"Take this with you. So you'll always be able to look back, and remember me. Just close your hand around it and stand in front of a mirror. The crystal's magic will take care of the rest."

She accepted the pendant with a bowed head. "Thank you for understanding how much they need me."

"All you need to do to get home is say the magic words."

_/There's no place like home/_flitted insanely through her head. Her brows drew together. "Magic words?"

"I wish the goblins would come and take me home, right now," he whispered, control starting to slip from his tight grasp.

Sarah nodded. Finally the lump in her throat was too big to speak around, so she rose up on her tiptoes and lightly touched her mouth against his. His lips were like stone. It was not the kiss either of them had been waiting for, but there was nothing else that could be said or done. Clasping the necklace between her palms she hurried away, not noticing the crowd that had its variously shaped ears pressed to the ballroom's doors.

Sir Didymus and Hoggle and Ludo watched Sarah run down the hallway, and then filed into the ballroom with wide grins on their faces. Jareth was walking slowly across the marble floor.

"Well Your Highness, I'd say everything is going well. We knew you had it in you," Hoggle said as the spokesperson for the group.

"I let her go," the Goblin King said quietly.

"Ha ha ha, yes, splend-" Sir Didymus broke off, his face falling as the words registered. "You _**WHAT? But…how could you?"**_

"I had to."

"Yes, but WHY?"

Jareth turned his face up to the ceiling, the painted constellations staring down at him impassively. There was no consolation to be found anywhere in the Underground now that Sarah was gone.

"Because, I love her."

The fox turned to Hoggle. "Then…that should be it. He's learned to love, that should break the spell!"

Hoggle, who had remained silent throughout the exchange, shook his head, his eyes never leaving the Goblin King. "It's not enough. She has to love him in return."

Sir Didymus refused to let the subject drop. "But we've all seen the way she acts, she loves him!"

_"Not enough to say it," _Jareth growled suddenly, pushing past Ludo and striding out of the ballroom.

In the deserted ballroom, the trio stood with their shoulders sagging.

"So…it was all for nothing," the fox said, tired. "We used Toby, we stole her away from her life and we turned her world upside down for nothing."

"No, not nothing," Hoggle said, staring at the empty doorway. "We know he truly does love her."


	18. Sixteen

One second Sarah was standing in front of the gilded mirror in her chambers at the Goblin Castle and the next she was blinking, wiping the distorted visions of cobwebs and magic from her eyes. She stumbled in the darkness, and bumped her shins against the edge of something hard. She cried out.

"Who's there?" That voice was familiar.

"Toby?" she said. Suddenly a lamp clicked on and there he was, a cheerful lump under his flannel lined sheets, his curly towhead swiveling towards her at the sound of her voice.

"Sarah!" he crowed, and then he was in her arms, hugging her so tightly she was afraid she would break. Their laughter turned to happy tears, and eventually the brother and sister were making so much noise that the door to Toby's bedroom swung open. There stood her father, a combination of exhaustion and exasperation on his face. When he saw Sarah, his jaw dropped.

"Daddy!" she sobbed, and ran into his arms. "Everything's all right, dad, I'm home."

"I thought I'd never see you again," he whispered.

And that was it. She was home. For the first time in months the Williams's were, for the most part, whole again. Once Toby and her father calmed down, and her dad went back to bed after much hugging and the solemn promise that she was not going anywhere, she found herself on the receiving end of a barrage of questions from her little brother.

"The Goblin King, how did you escape?"

"I didn't escape, Toby. He let me go."

"That guy let you go? He seemed like such a creep!"

She sighed, her mind flashing back to the image of Jareth standing on the balcony at the Goblin Castle, framed by a backdrop of twinkling stars. "He wasn't a creep. Actually…he was…he was quite wonderful."

She saw him recoil, his nose wrinkle and she laughed. It was so good to be HOME. "Once you got to know him, that is."

* * *

Caliban paced back and forth in front of a gaggle of angry goblins he had gathered from the Goblin Castle. In his element, his time at hand, he was preaching to a converted audience.

_"Without regard for his people, for his responsibilities, he let her GO."_

The goblins roared, the unfairness of it all boiling their blood with war-like fervor.

_"Your King cares for nothing but himself! He has given up on his last chance for freedom, his last chance to make us __**HUMAN**__ again!"_

They howled and gnashed their teeth.

"He doesn't care about you," Caliban condemned, "and we will never see justice until his head is mounted on a wall! I say its high time someone ELSE take charge around here!"

His audience cheered, throwing horned helmets, leather caps and string toupees in the air. The ogre raised his hands, his talons razor sharp and grinning horribly.

_**"WHO'S WITH ME?"**_he cried. His challenge was met with overwhelming approval. The rebellion had begun.

* * *

Sarah's dad was staring at her with disbelief in his eyes. It had been a week since she had returned, the affair with social services had been straightened out, and everything was back to normal.

Almost.

Up until now she had been very vague about her whereabouts during her internment in the Goblin Castle. Time, she found, had passed much slower in the real world than the Underground. She was happy to skirt the issue of her disappearance with her father, however he had overheard her last night telling stories of the Goblins and playing tag in the Escher room to Toby and now he wanted to know what was going on. Against her better judgment, she told him the truth, starting at the beginning. How seven years ago, she wished her infant brother away to the goblins because she had been an angst-ridden teenager. She started to tell about the Goblin King's re-entrance into her life when Toby broke in.

"You shoulda seen it dad, there were monsters crawling up the walls and in my bed and one of them ate my baby pillow!"

Her dad shook his head. "You said you left that pillow at Georgie's house."

"I couldn't _tell _you," Toby said reasonably, "Sarah made me promise not to tell anyone about the Goblin King and then-"

Their father held up his hands, halting Toby's excited rambling. "Let me get this straight. Instead of running away like your note said, you were actually kidnapped and taken to live in a Goblin Castle by a king who kept you prisoner?"

Sarah and Toby nodded in unison. Their dad frowned.

"You two have concocted a whopper of a fairy tale here. Toby is one thing but you, Sarah? I can't believe your filling his head with tales of nonsense."

Toby looked distraught at the accusation of lies, but Sarah had expected to not be believed. Especially by her father, who hadn't believed in fairy tales and happy endings for a long time now. Yes, she could forgive him, but that didn't mean she liked being called a liar.

She gritted her teeth. "It's _not _nonsense. And I can prove it."

* * *

Noises from the city streets drew Hoggle's attention. He stood on tiptoes to peek out a window, hopes rising that perhaps Sarah had returned after all. Instead he saw chaos.

"Invaders!" he ran for Sir Didymus and Ludo.


	19. Seventeen

Their father asked Toby to leave the room and he did so with a dramatic sigh. Sarah produced the crystal necklace. Dangling from her fingers in the afternoon light that streamed through the kitchen windows, it looked less like a magical pendant and more like a cheap junk store item for sale at $1.99.

_/when you look at it this way, it will show you your dreams/_

"I know you think that I abandoned you just like mom and Karen." Hurt flickered on his face and she held up a hand before he could say anything. "I didn't know what else to tell you; I didn't exactly have a lot of time to think something up. I'm not a child anymore; I know which story sounds more believable: that I got fed up with being shackled down with Toby and ran away to the tropics to limbo with some cabana boy. But you know what dad?"

Sarah stared him in the eyes.

"I am NOT mom or Karen. They were selfish bitches with no consideration whatsoever for you or for me or for Toby and frankly, I'm glad they're gone and I could care less if I ever saw them again." There, she said it. It was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"You can't let the actions of others dictate your own destiny, dad."

_/I release you. You are no longer my prisoner/_

He did not look convinced. "Well, I can't let you continue to tell Toby these tall tales."

She sighed. "It did happen, dad. And I can show you." One hand closed around the crystal pendant and one hand held up a small mirror. "Show me the Goblin Castle, please."

"Sarah-" he began, but a bright flash of light cut him off. The mirror's surface began to glow like a miniature sun. When it dimmed, they could see the image of the castle that lay beyond the Goblin City.

"What on earth," he whispered.

"Not on earth. It's the Goblin City, dad. The Underground. I wasn't lying, it's a real place and it-" she gasped. The mirror had focused in on the village square, and instead of the normal gaiety, it was utter madness. The city was under an all out attack by goblins dressed in armor of dull gray spikes and red war paint. She recognized the attackers as some of the more unpleasant and aggressive goblins from the castle.

There, by the fountain in the town square, was Sir Didymus atop Ambrocious leading the royal army. Ludo was by his side, howling for geological reinforcements.

_"Oh my God, what's happened,"_she cried, her eyes wide as she saw goblin fall upon goblin and children run screaming through the streets.

She dropped the mirror and the pendant and rushed for her room, paying no attention to her dad's sudden flurry of questions.

* * *

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Hoggle panted, bursting through the doors. The room was dark, but the dwarf spied the Goblin King, clad in all black silhouetted against the open window. He was sitting, staring desolately out at the Labyrinth.

"Leave me in peace."

"But, sir, the castle is under attack!"

Jareth turned his head slightly toward the distraught dwarf. "I've lost her. I've failed everyone."

"Your Majesty-"

"It doesn't matter now," the Goblin King interrupted, "just let them come." He turned his attention back out the window, his eyes seeing and not seeing the destruction.

* * *

Sarah dove into the mess that was her closet, tossing magazines, sock puppets, a wig, sketch books and lacy bras aside as she dug frantically for what she was looking for. She hadn't used them since high school, but they were in here, they had to be!

Toby appeared in her doorway. "What's going on, Sarah?" he demanded, "Dad says he saw the Goblin Castle in your hand mirror and that you've gone crazy."

"A HA!" she cried, and hoisted the buried treasure high.

Toby's eyes grew round as his sister crowed over a pair of swords. "What're you gonna do with those?"

"No time to explain, kiddo," she said as she grabbed him around the waist and tucked him under her right arm, the swords under her left. The antique weapons were remnants of her high school days, souvenirs from the local Renaissance Festival she used to volunteer at. She had stuffed them in her closet because eventually it became too hard to explain to local policemen who pulled her over for speeding why she had broadswords in the trunk of her car. She ran back downstairs to the kitchen.

"Sarah, I would like an explanation."

She had no time for her dad's inability to grasp the situation, not when her friends needed her. She dumped Toby into a kitchen chair and scooped up the pendant.

"We have to help them, that's what's going on." Holding the pendant tightly, she closed her eyes.

"I wish the goblins would come and take us away right now!"

Nothing happened. She opened her eyes. Her dad and Toby were staring at her like she had just gone cuckoo. The day remained bright and sunny, and not one thing in the room was out of the ordinary. She shook the crystal as if trying to give it a jump start.

"This can't be happening."

"Sarah, sweetie, maybe you need to lie down."

"This isn't possible," she mumbled, her eyes held by the crystal's depths.

"Toby and I can make dinner while you nap and then we can discuss this rationally."

_"I SAID I WISH THE GOBLINS WOULD COME AND TAKE US AWAY RIGHT NOW! YOU CAN'T IGNORE ME, DAMMIT!" _she screamed, and slammed her fist against the kitchen table so hard the dishes rattled in the cupboard.

* * *

The goblins loyal to their King fought bravely. Caliban's army was like a swarm of locusts; he had manipulated them to the point where they would have fallen on their own swords if he had told them to. They slowly advanced through the city regardless of the barrage of rocks that tried to keep the attackers at bay. From humungous boulders to the smallest pebbles, nothing was stopping them. The mob finally reached Ludo and piled on top of him, stuffing a sack of dirty laundry into his mouth to gag him from calling the rocks.

And Caliban watched the entire battle with a satisfied grin on his face; Newt perched eagerly on his shoulder. Years of lying in wait, of pretending to be a sheep rather than a wolf…all that was at an end. He no longer had to answer to a weak Master, soon the Goblin King would be overthrown. Just as he had planned, Jareth had fallen in love with Sarah. Sending Newt into the real world to cause trouble for Sarah's family had been easy and sure enough, her family had spiraled out of control.

To his credit, Caliban had warned his old student. He prophesized that Sarah had forsaken Jareth once and she would do it again. She hadn't disappointed him.

The ogre cackled gleefully. His troops were almost at the Castle gates, and the Goblin King wasn't doing a thing to stop him.

* * *

She sat at the table and thumped her forehead against the smooth surface. Fear and despair flooded Sarah's mind. Time passed at a different rate in the Underground, that was apparent, but certainly they hadn't forgotten about her. Surely…HE hadn't forgotten. Dancing under the stars with Jareth…holding his bare hand, skin against skin; the time spent with him flashed in front of her eyes.

"I didn't imagine it, I didn't," she whispered against the tabletop.

She wasn't losing her mind; she had kissed the Goblin King. Fleetingly, yes, but her lips had touched his…and then she left him. It wasn't something you forgot easily. And then she had gone…had gone…

Her head jerked up. She grabbed the swords and dragged Toby and her dad into the foyer of their house. An ornate 12-foot tall Victorian mirror, a vestige to Williams ancestry stood sentry next to the front door. The trio stood in front of the polished glass; their reflections staring dubiously back at their owners.

"This is going to work," she said, slipping the necklace over her head. "It has to."

"What are you talking about Sarah?"

Closing her fist around the necklace and closing her eyes once more, she formed a picture of the Goblin King in her mind. Although Jareth in his formal waistcoat and cravat was a strong image, that wasn't what stuck in her head. No, she remembered him best from the afternoon they spent playing freeze tag; cheerful and laughing right along with his subjects. His friends.

"I wish the goblins would come and take us away right now." Again she opened her eyes. For a moment, everything seemed to be normal.

Then her reflection moved.

The odd thing was:_ she hadn't._

Sarah stood stock still as her reflection winked at her, then hoisted the sword over its shoulder and crooked a finger at her. Toby's reflection stuck its tongue out and her father's grinned and stood on its head. Her dad gaped.

Silently, her doppelganger beckoned her to move closer to the mirror. Sarah stepped forward, extending her hand to the mirror. Her reflection moved in sync, their palms met against the glassy surface and it was cold and smooth to the touch; nothing out of the ordinary.

Then her reflection grabbed her around the wrist. Sarah yelped and began pulling back instinctively; Toby grabbed her elbow and her father wrapped his arm around her waist. They were no match for her reflection though, it grinned and yanked, and all three of the Williams's sank into the mirror's depths.


	20. Eighteen

Caliban opened his mouth to give the order to slaughter them all when a fantastic horn sounded in the distance, deep and resonant and magical. He turned and his misshapen jaw dropped.

An army of Labyrinthian creatures were at the gates of the Goblin City.

In the streets, the rebellion stilled as all the goblins, good and bad, turned. When they caught sight of the approaching magical warriors, they became so quiet the only sound that could be heard for a mile was the steady growl coming from the throat of Sir Didymus.

At the head of the battalion, a lone dwarf with a glowing Pixie on his shoulder held a gnarled walking stick adorned with a tail of glittering cobwebs. He raised it high in the air.

_"Get those assholes,"_ Portia said. Hoggle dropped the twisted wand and the army took flight.

_"Chaaaaaaaaaaaarge!" _Sir Didymus cried.

Their war cry sounded. A flock of fairies flew over the gates and descended into the city in a vicious, biting cloud. Fierys threw their heads up and over, which called encouragement out to the gangly orange-red bodies that followed clumsily. Gremlin knights in full armor used their weapons; miniature gnashing monsters with oversized choppers to chomp their way straight through the door while tiny tiny brownies simply crawled under it. The old man with the wiseass headgear shuffled through the splintered remains of the gates while his hat decided to fly over it, and the trash lady ran pell-mell through the streets flinging rotten apples at anything that moved.

The royal army of goblins, which had been fighting a losing battle suddenly found new strength.

"Heeeeeeelp!" Newt was plucked off Caliban's shoulder by two giggling, biting fairies and carried away.

"No," the ogre said in disbelief, watching his master plan crumble beneath the weight of the Underground's Labyrinth army.

His soldiers began to scatter to the winds as they realized they were outnumbered ten to one.

_"NOOOOOOOOOO!"_Caliban howled. Amidst the chaos, his blood red eyes zeroed in on the highest tower of the Goblin Castle. A lone figure stood in the window.

"I'll kill you," the ogre said, and began to push his way through the battle.

* * *

Sarah, Toby, and her father fell in a heap of arms and legs on a cold cobblestone courtyard. Moaning, she extracted herself and sat up, blinking at the roar of the battle around them.

Goblins from her internment mingled with creatures from the Labyrinth to fight off the attacking army. From the looks of things, they were succeeding.

**"SARAH!"**

Whipping her head around, she saw Hoggle just before he crashed into her, radiant with joy.

"I knew you'd come back, I just knew it."

"Oh my god!" Her dad had finally rolled over and looked at his surroundings.

"What is going _ON_here!" she demanded.

The dwarf shrugged. "Encroachers. It's a long story."

"But…but…but…" she couldn't seem to form a complete sentence. "But the creatures from the Labyrinth…they tried to kill me."

"Ah yes, well…let's just say Portia and I managed to talk some sense into them for once. It was all really…just a big misunderstanding."

"Ah-hah." Sarah wasn't convinced she was hearing the whole story, but that wasn't important. First things first.

"Where's Jareth?"

Hoggle pointed to the tower of the West Wing. Her eyes narrowed.

She turned to her dad and Toby. She gave the extra sword to her dad but winked at Toby. "Take care of him kiddo, dad doesn't look like he's all there." She stormed into the Castle.

* * *

Jareth sat alone, the roar of the battle going mostly unnoticed. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the enchanted rose, which hung limply within its crystal confines. Only two petals were left. A breeze stirred through the room and he sniffed the air, lifting his head.

"You disappointed me, Caliban."

Two blood red eyes opened in the shadows, glowing. A dagger tightened in his clawed fist.

"_You're_ the one who has disappointed _me_, Your Highness," Caliban mocked. "Weak, lazy…pathetic fool!"

"What you call weak I defined as a compromise."

"We have wasted away here in the Underground for too long. We could have been conquerors and instead we were the Labyrinth's _SLAVES."_

Jareth regarded the ogre for a long silent moment before looking away. "Then its you who is the fool."

* * *

Toby stood next to his dad, who was out of place in this upside down world. For awhile he got into the spirit of the celebration as the mutiny was overthrown and the invaders were kicked out on their bottoms.

"And stay out!" the little fox cried, brandishing a miniature sword high in the air.

"I just don't believe this," his father kept repeating. He didn't even notice when Toby began to creep away inch by inch.

The child's mind had been racing with tales of tag in a room where you could climb on the walls and the ceiling. He eyed the entrance to the Castle for a few moments before making his getaway.


	21. Chapter 21

Caliban raised the dagger and stepped out of the shadows. Jareth merely raised an eyebrow, his features slack.

The monster drooled. "If and when I am found, I will be executed for treason, I know. But at least I will die happy knowing I sent you to hell _first,"_he hissed, and swung the knife.

On impulse and out of unconscious self-preservation, the Goblin King jerked back just enough so that the wound was not fatal, but it did slice through Jareth's tunic, cutting a thin red line down his breastbone. The momentum of his reaction, however, carried him out the window.

He fell ten feet onto an overhanging section of roof from the lower tower. He groaned, bringing his hand to the sharp pain in his chest and it came away wet with blood. It started to rain, large stinging drops that blinded him. Rolling over, he tried to push himself up and failed.

The ground shook as Caliban leaped from the window sill down to the perch. He approached with hatred and murder on his face. Jareth fell back, his eyes filling with rain and feeling his energy ebb slowly out his breast.

"Get up. _GET UP!"_the ogre roared, and kicked the fallen King in the ribs. Jareth cried out as he felt something snap inside, and lurched to his knees with one hand clutched to his side. He coughed and spat out blood, which washed away in the storm.

"Don't you remember ANYTHING I taught you?" He kicked Jareth's legs out from beneath him and Jareth groaned, collapsing onto his injured ribs.

"Love is _FOOLISH._ Love is _WEAKNESS._ Kings don't have the option of being weak. Being weak gets you _KILLED."_Lightning flashed. One last kick for good measure; it sent the Goblin King skidding towards the edge of the overhang. He coughed up more blood. Caliban loomed over him, dagger raised.

"When someone asks me how I killed the Goblin King, I'm going to say it was a _PIECE of CAKE!" _The ogre started laughing giddily, his madness dominant.

"_JARETH! NO!"_

At the sound of that voice, Jareth raised his head. Beyond Caliban's shoulder he could see Sarah leaning over the edge of the window he had fallen out of, mouth open in a scream of helplessness as she saw the horrible tableaux below her.

"Sarah?" The sight of her filled him with power.

"NO, DON'T!" she pleaded as the ogre swung the dagger down in a vicious arc. Instead of impaling the Goblin King, the blade was driven five inches into the roof as Jareth rolled out of the way. Once clear, he spread his arms, his power pushing him upwards. He landed on his feet and faced his demon with glittering eyes.

His primary weapon useless, Caliban was temporarily at a loss. A pathetic, defeated Jareth was no longer in front of him; now he was faced with the Goblin King.

Jareth shook a black-gloved finger back and forth. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. A piece of cake, hm? Let's see how you deal with this slice."

* * *

"Cooooooooooooooooooooooollll ll" Toby breathed, his eyes as round as saucers.

He stood on a precipice overlooking the impossible architecture of the Escher room. He swayed on sneakered feet as his sense of balance was knocked on its side.

"Lucky stiff," he muttered, thinking about Sarah getting to play tag and of all the fun that could be had in the room with ten friends and paintball guns. It would be a whole new level of paintball warfare!

"_NO, DON'T."_

Toby's head jerked up and his eyes narrowed. That was Sarah's voice echoing down a hallway and bouncing off the walls where he stood. No one but NO ONE messed with his sister.

"I'm coming Sarah!" he cried, and with a child's strong belief in the unbelievable, ran straight up a wall toward the sound of her cry.

* * *

Sarah watched in terror as the giant monster turned, pinning her with glowing eyes the color of blood. His mad gaze branded her; marked her for future reference. His grinned horribly, showing rows and rows of rotting fangs.

"I'll be coming for you next, you little bitch," he slobbered.

"_NO!" _Jareth roared, his normally spiky hair slicked back away from his burning eyes, hanging down his back in wet locks. "Your fight is with ME."

She stood frozen at the window, rain stinging her like needles, helpless as the nightmare turned back to the Goblin King. At the end of each finger was a claw at least three inches long and they all looked razor sharp. Before Jareth could draw upon his power the monster was on him, and they rolled towards the edge of the roof. Before they went over the side she saw in a moment of perfect clarity as the lightning flashed; the image of Jareth holding the ogre's hands away from his throat with gloved fists. Then they fell.

She screamed, the sound obliterated by thunder.

* * *

Toby sprinted down a dark hallway trying to locate his sister. Small creatures with green oozing skin pointed frantically at large doors. He assumed they were goblins and should know where Sarah was, so he ran straight at the doors, bursting through them and skidding to a stop. The room was dark, except for a weak light that seemed to be throbbing from a wilted rose. As he watched, a petal fell, leaving one clinging to the flower's bud.

"Huh," he said, and it seemed to sum up everything. He heard a noise and turned, and caught sight of Sarah just before she scrambled over the ledge, dropping out of sight.

* * *

They fell, still grappling, and hit the stone ledge that surrounded a lower tower. Jareth knew he was no match for Caliban in hand-to-hand combat, so when they landed he used the momentum of the fall to throw the ogre off before rolling away, hiding behind one of the gargoyles that adorned the small walkway.

He crouched low in the shadows, nursing his tender ribs as he heard Caliban's shriek of rage. The darkness hid him well; the ogre stalked by, the red eyes wild and insane as he couldn't find the Goblin King.

"_Come out and FIGHT, you __**COWARD!"**_

Jareth tensed. Instead of being goaded into revealing his position, he slowly began to draw all his remaining power into one last crystal.

"Did you really think she would pick you? You've stolen thousands of children, and let thousands more run the Labryrinth. NONE of them picked you. _NONE OF THEM LOVED YOU!"_ Caliban howled, smashing his claws against a statue and decapitating it. "You know why? _Because you're pathetic….weak….selfish…"_he roared in fury and frustration, drowned out by the thunder.

"After I'm done with you, I'm going to find that bitch and kill her. But not quickly, oh no, I'm going to flay her skin off her body inch by inch, eat her eyes, cut off her fingers one by one and if I'm lucky, I'll get to have some fun with her before she dies-"

Provoked beyond reason, Jareth launched himself from his hiding place, leaping into the open. Caliban's back was turned; he was ten feet away. The ogre whirled at the sound, and had just enough time to draw in a breath before the Goblin King's crystal hit him dead on in the chest.

He flew backwards, skidding along the edge of the roof. The momentum was enough to propel him over the side but just before his heels left the roof, Jareth's magic pinned him in place. Caliban glanced down; a thousand feet below him the courtyard glittered with rain. He dared not move, for fear of breaking the spell that held him so precariously tied to the roof.

"Please, don't let me fall," he bawled, his features screwing up into a truly horrible expression. "_I'll do anything! ANYTHING!"_

Jareth's fingers twitched, his body wanting to give the signal to release the ogre to his death. He was a threat to his kingdom, to himself, and to Sarah. He deserved to die.

_No._

No more killing. Caliban's army was defeated, Caliban himself in no position to argue. The battle, the bitterness, the anger; it ended here.

Jareth pulled his power back from the ledge, the ogre being dragged with it until he was fully on the roof again; relief causing tears to run from bloody eyes. The Goblin King, bruised, broken and wounded but victorious stood over him.

"Get out of my kingdom," he yelled over the storm. "Never come back."

* * *

Sarah landed badly on her right foot, and came up clutching it with a moan. Her sword had been knocked out of her hand on impact and she crawled on hands and knees frantically feeling for it blindly.

"Oh, _fuck it!" _Dragging herself to her feet, she limped as quickly as possible across the sloping roof. She leaned over the edge, dreading the sight that awaited her. Instead of broken bodies or worse, all she saw was…nothing.

"No," she whispered, her heart shrinking inside her chest at the thought of losing him.

"Looking for me?"

She gasped and whirled and there he was, not the great and horrible King she once thought he was; just a very damp, grinning man. She rushed into his arms.

"Jareth," she sobbed, squeezing him tight. He winced, gasping, and Sarah drew back.

"What's wrong?"

He ignored her question for the time being. He ran his fingers through her wet hair, pushing it out of her eyes. "You came back."

It was almost as if he didn't quite believe what he was seeing, that there was no way she could be here in front of him. She tentatively stroked his wet cheek with the back of her hand, not quite believing it herself. Electricity passed between them and regardless of his injuries, Jareth pulled her to him, burying his face in her neck.

She entwined her fingers in his hair and tugged his head back. She smiled and locked eyes with him.

He started to close the distance when he heard a child's high, clear scream from above.

"_SARAH, LOOK OUT!" _Toby shrieked over the rainstorm, pointing at the rising ogre that loomed behind his sister, knife in hand.

Unable to see the danger in the dark, Jareth instinctively turned, protecting Sarah with his body.


	22. Chapter 22

One moment Sarah was waiting to be kissed and the next, he had grabbed her by the forearms and yanked her around, huddling over her like a shield. Before she could ask what was going on, he cried out and jerked in her arms, stiffening horribly. She heard a roar of triumph and over Jareth's shoulder, she saw the ogre pull the knife out of Jareth's back, and flipped it around so he could stab him again.

With his last ounce of strength, Jareth lashed out with his left foot, aiming the devastating kick for Caliban's weak spot: his knees. The ogre was so top heavy and his legs so ill-proportioned that the well-aimed blow toppled his sense of balance. Arms pin wheeling, he careened over the edge.

Tumbling into unconsciousness, Jareth began to pitch over the side as well but Sarah grabbed his jacket with both hands and tried to pull him back. She was weak, though, and he was heavy.

The storm flashed brightly, and in the burst of light Sarah saw a sickening sight: the monster had managed to grab the foot of a gargoyle and was slowly hauling himself back onto the roof, drool pouring from his mouth and chuckling deep in his throat.

"Stay there, girl I'll be right with you," he chortled, razored claws scraping against the marble.

She sobbed, digging her toes into the stones and pulling with all her might, but Jareth wouldn't budge; he was off balance and unconscious. She was barely strong enough to hold onto him, much less pull him back and make a safe getaway.

_/Let him go and live or hold onto him and you both die/_

She screamed into the rain, knowing the only choice she had yet unable to let him go. And the monster was gaining purchase.

"You messed with the wrong family, pal."

She threw everything she had or ever will have into one last yank, and Sarah managed to pull Jareth enough that he was no longer falling over the side, he was falling onto her. With a muffled 'wumph' he collapsed on her, pinning her to the roof. With wide eyes, she lifted her head, seeking out the sound of the voice.

Her father and Toby stood, hand in hand, above the ogre who was pulling himself up by the skin of his teeth.

Caliban stilled, his red eyes trying to gauge the man and the boy that stood on the roof. "_Don't get in my way," _he snarled, writing them off as fools.

"You mess with my sister, you mess with us," Toby said, and watched calmly as his dad raised the sword Sarah had given him over his head and severed the gargoyle statue at the leg. Caliban had only a moment of flailing, trying to hang onto the edge. He would have made it, but it was raining and, well…it was slippery.

The ogre's cry as he fell was drowned out by the storm.

* * *

Between the two of them, Sarah and her father managed to carry Jareth back onto the balcony of his private chambers, where they laid him down gently.

Her father stepped back, holding Toby in his arms. He heard a noise, turned, and saw an audience slowly creeping out of the shadows; little green creatures, a giant orange monster, a white-haired dwarf and a fox with a jaunty tricorner hat all stood silently, watching Sarah kneel over the wounded man.

Jareth stirred and opened his eyes. Sarah was above him, her wet hair trailing down to brush his cheeks, her skin pale and glittering with rain. He managed to raise a hand and cup her cheek, smiling as she turned into his touch.

"You came back," he repeated in a throaty whisper, awed by her beauty.

"Of course I came back," she returned in the same whisper, "I couldn't just stand by when I saw…" she broke off, her throat closing. "Oh, this is all my fault, if only I had gotten here sooner," she moaned, her eyes watering.

"Maybe it's better this way." His silver-lidded eyes fluttered close for a moment, his elegant winged eyebrows drawing together in pain.

Sarah placed a finger over his lips. "Don't talk like that. You'll be all right. We're together now; everything's going to be fine." But she was crying as she spoke; her jeans, her t-shirt, her cardigan were drenched in blood.

Jareth opened his eyes, staring up at her with no pain, only tenderness. He held up two fingers, kissed them, and then pressed them against her lips. "At least I got to see you one…last…time…"

Sarah's eyes closed as his fingers grazed her lips. She lightly stroked his wrist, held his hand against her mouth. Then suddenly, she was no longer holding his hand, she was holding a dead weight. Startled, she let go, and his arm fell against his chest before sliding to the ground where it rested. He didn't move.

Her heart hit her stomach; she clapped her hand to her mouth, shaking her head back and forth.

"No," she choked, "no, please don't leave." She started to weep in earnest, dissolving into sobs as she bent over him, resting her cheek against his chest.

"Oh Jareth…" her throat was constricted painfully with sorrow.

Inside the chambers, Hoggle watched as the last petal stirred in the breeze. He held his breath.

"…I love you," she finished, feeling her heart die.

Except for her father and Toby, the entire gathering in the room was now watching the crystal case that held the rose. As they looked on, the last petal drifted down and the enchanted light went out forever. As one, their faces fell, all hope shattered. Hoggle put his arm around Sir Didymus, who looked absolutely unsure of what to do for the first time in his life.


	23. Chapter 23

The dwarf opened his mouth to speak, but a light from the balcony caught his attention. When he saw what was happened, his grip tightened on the fox and he held his breath.

The rain had stopped falling, and was replaced instead with falling stars that burst in an explosion of amber light on impact. Overcome with grief, Sarah didn't notice that she was sitting in the middle of a golden storm until the bright glow began to converge on the fallen form of the King and slowly lift him into the air. Shocked and blinking, she scooted back, drawing her knees up to her chest as a bright mist descended from the sky to encircle Jareth.

As the crowd watched in awe, the mist formed a miniature storm cloud at his feet before swirling up his body in a whirlwind. It surrounded his head and then, with a burst of light, drew itself into him through his mouth and nose, now filling his entire body with a warm glow from the _inside._ Jareth's body turned around and around, his toes dangling, lifeless towards the ground. Then, as suddenly as it started, the mist burst from his mouth in a beam brighter than the sun, so bright Sarah had to throw her arms over her head and duck. She screamed, but the sound of it was sucked into the silent explosion.

Silence followed. Slowly, she rolled over from her defensive crouch. Jareth's body was once again lying lifeless on the balcony.

"Oh, Jareth," she moaned brokenly.

And then, suddenly, he wasn't so lifeless.

He coughed violently once, twice, and drew in a heaving breath. Eyes that were no longer mismatched popped open, and he instinctively rolled onto his side and tried to stand, unable to bear being caught in an undignified position. Rising shakily to his feet, he faced the quiet sky, watching the storm retreat as he brushed himself off. A movement out of the corner of his eye caused him to turn.

Sarah was standing there, looking as if she was seeing a ghost.

He remembered what happened.

"Sarah?" he asked, unsure if he was alive, dreaming, or dead.

"You…you _died,"_ she said shakily, unable to tear her eyes away, still not allowing herself to believe in the miracle.

Then he touched her. Her knees failed and she collapsed against him, letting him hold her weight as she threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life.

"You're alive, you're really alive!" Sarah was crying and laughing at the same time.

He pulled away for a moment, long enough to scoop her into his arms so he could hold her as close as possible. All his injuries were healed; there was no pain. Only Sarah. They stared at each other, lost in their happiness for a long moment. There was nothing to stop either of them. He tilted his head down, both their lips parting on an anxious sigh.

"Ahem?" Toby tugged on Sarah's sleeve. "What about us?"

Jareth and Sarah simultaneously bit back expletives. He slowly released her, and she slid down his body until her feet hit the ground. A chorus of mythical creatures and goblins were staring at them expectantly. She could feel Jareth tense his muscles, ready to slip back into the role of the Goblin King. She scowled at the audience.

"What _about_ you?" She turned to Jareth, and proceeded to kiss him so thoroughly she thought her heart would explode from her chest.

The moment they kissed, a cheer erupted. Sarah was occupied with the fact that Jareth was deliciously licking her lower lip, his tongue sliding over hers, or else she would have noticed the fireworks that exploded in the red Underground sky.

Thousands of twinkling lights spread throughout the kingdom, slowly falling to the earth. As they touched the ground, the gloom normally associated with the Goblin Kingdom receded, retreated, faded until a majestic Castle with a quaint, orderly town was revealed.

But that wasn't the amazing thing.

As the twinkling magic touched the goblins, and all the other creatures of the Goblin Kingdom, their forms grew and expanded. Soon, instead of goblins filling the streets of the city, it was bewildered humans who, for the first time in an eternity, stood in a full upright position and stretched.

A loud barking finally drew Sarah's attention away from being properly kissed by a very alive Goblin King. She broke the contact and swayed on her feet for a moment as the world rolled back into place after his mouth turned it upside down.

A sheepdog the size of a small pony and covered in shaggy orange fur was prancing in circles around her. His staggered gait, exaggerated size and wide grin resembled the character Barkley on Sesame Street. The sheer enormity of him was a bit of a shock for her...until she got a good look at his eyes.

_"LUDO?"_ she cried, kneeling down and letting the canine lavish kisses on her with a pink tongue. At the sound of his name, he barked once, happily, and rolled over so she could scratch his stomach.

"Perhaps I can explain, milady." A tall willowy reed of a man that resembled a cross between Don Quixote and Ichabod Crane stepped into the light. Gray eyebrows arched elegantly over warm brown eyes, and a large handlebar mustache rose as he gave her a gallant smile. His red and yellow striped tunic was jaunty and his entire air screamed sly fox. "Sir Didymus, at your eternal service."

She stood slowly. Instead of a little terrier fox that scurried around at knee height, she now had to look up at the dauntless knight, disbelief blatant in her eyes. "You're…you're all human?" She glanced down at Ludo, who was running in circles chasing his own tail in delight. "Well…most of you," she amended.

"Sarah?" A small, shriveled, raisin of a man crept tentatively forward. His longish hair was snowy white, and his bright blue eyes were tiny in comparison to his peach of a nose. His hands, which were about two sizes too large for his otherwise dainty proportions twisted a brown leather skullcap nervously. His downcast look and his shoulders that were hunched forward from years of being bent over a garden were puzzle pieces to his identity.

"Hoggle."

He offered her a small smile. "Actually…it's Jeremy Hoggle. Nows that I'm…me." Tears shone in his eyes. "I never thoughts I would be able to call myself that again." Unable to contain his gratitude, he hugged her, and all doubts fled as her arms instinctively embraced him back. The body had changed, but the hug was the same. He squeezed her once and stepped back, beaming.

Sarah looked from Hoggle to Sir Didymus to Jareth, whom were all gazing at her like she was a Queen. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Jareth slipped his hand into hers and squeezed tight, yet another sign that this was not a dream; he was alive.

Her father had let go of Toby, and the little boy started to crow with delight as Ludo licked his face. The two rolled into a lively wrestling match, laughing and barking happily.

"Boy, this is great Sarah! Can we keep him? Huh? Can we?"

She felt lighter than air, and started to laugh. "I think he's the one who's decided to keep YOU, kiddo," she giggled. Then laughed. Then cried. Then laughed some more, laughing and crying as Jareth picked her up around the waist and began to twirl her around and around, their mouths finding each other as the world spun, turned upside down.

_/Down in the Underground, you'll find someone true/_

/You're him, aren't you? You're the Goblin King/

/I saw my baby crying hard as babe could cry/

/A love that will last within your heart/

/I've reordered time, I've turned the world upside down, and I've done it all for you/

/As the World falls down…falling…falling in love/  



	24. Chapter 24

Sarah and Jareth were once again dancing under the painted night sky, their reflections against the gleaming marble floor following every turn and dip. Only this time, they were not alone. The ballroom was filled to the brim with guests from Jareth's kingdom, as well as their new friends from the Labyrinth.

They were surrounded by celebration on every side, including above their heads; fairies in full court grab flew happily through falling streamers and glittery confetti, which added the shine of magic to the crowd below.

As Jareth led her down the sidelines of the dance floor, Sarah overheard a snatch of conversation between Jeremy Hoggle and Sir Rudolph Didymus.

"I don't care what anyone says, I still want to take my repellant to 'em," the wizened gardner growled, swatting the air above his head as the fairies deliberately dove at him like Kamikaze bombers, snapping their tiny jaws and teasing grins on their faces.

Sarah laughed. At first she thought it would take some time to get used to her old chums in their original forms, but she had already adapted. They were still her friends.

"I love the sound of your laughter."

The husky, accented voice near her ear drew her attention back to the man who held her close. His eyes were drinking in the sight of her smile, and desire lurked just below their crystal depths. Her heart swelled with happiness.

"You know what I love?" Sarah confided, taking the opportunity to lean close, "I mean besides your kiss?" His desire was contagious.

Her saucy comment brought a wide grin to his face, caused that one eyebrow to rise deliciously over a silver-tinged lid.

"That," she admitted, her eyes zeroing in on his mouth. "You have the most amazing smile."

Unable to resist, he dipped his head and caught her lips, relishing the small moan that came from the back of her throat. For a few moments, Jareth lost himself in the feel and taste of Sarah. Unfortunately, it threw his timing off and they bumped into another dancing couple.

"Oh, pardon us," Sarah started and then did a double take. "DAD?!"

Her father, dressed to the nines in a blue and cream brocade waistcoat and polished boots, was pressed cheek to cheek with a sassy redhead that threatened to spill out of her jade green bodice at any moment. He seemed to be happily lost against Portia's ample bosom. They looked like…well like a couple of teenagers in the throes of lust. Sarah could spot the symptoms a mile away; she was going through the exact same thing with Jareth.

"Oh hi, sweetie." Sarah was sputtering in disbelief. "You? Her? Her and you?"

Portia cocked her head and drew her father deeper into the entwined embrace. "What can I say? He has great proportions." She and her dad started giggling, sharing a private joke that Sarah was pretty sure she didn't want to ever be clued in on.

"Does this mean…you and Toby are going to stay with us?" she interrupted the two lovebirds before they could do something that would warp her for life.

Her dad's grin was answer enough.

Jareth offered his hand, which his dad shook. They smiled formally, dropped hands, and the moment of male bonding was over. Sarah and Portia rolled their eyes before sweeping their respective partners back into a light waltz. They passed Toby, who was dressed like a Goblin Prince, his short hair in stylish spikes. He was enraptured with the antics of the Fireys, who were entertaining the crowd by juggling various body parts.

"By the way. I forgot to ask you something."

"Yes?"

He placed his lips directly next to her ear. "Will you marry me?"

Sarah's head reared back in surprise, her eyebrows raised all the way to her hairline. Her legs were numb and her stomach twisted in a knot as Jareth reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a delicate gold band. A miniature crystal orb, no bigger than the base of a pin, was set in the ring. She watched silently as he slid it onto her finger, and then pressed a chaste kiss into her palm.

"Be my wife, Sarah."

And she thought tears were saved for moments of sorrow.

A thousand remarks ran through her head. Sarah briefly considered breaking down into happy sobs but quickly threw the idea out. Jareth was waiting patiently with a growing look of anxiety on his face, so she said the only thing that seemed appropriate for mixed company.

"_Yes."_ And she let herself be swept off her feet, her arms, body, and soul wrapped in Jareth's embrace. As the news was relayed around the celebration, a cheer went up that echoed throughout the Labyrinth.

"What do we do now?" Sarah asked, overwhelmed with love.

"According to the stories…we live happily ever after."


End file.
